Comments on: The Death of Tag Clouds http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/ A fresh charge of creativity Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:40:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Me http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-21300 Me Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:25:21 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-21300 We have a tag cloud on our main page, a site catering to an international industry with a LOT of different products, and so LOTS of people doing searches. First and foremost, we DO have proper navigation. Navigating off a tag cloud is like trying to have dinner while busting a bronco. From our perspective, it's interesting to see trends in the cloud, which we compile and publish monthly in one of our newsletters. Over the course of the last two years, it has shown changes in search trends and the terms used. Much like music charts, to the average person it's not very useful, but it is interesting to see, read and extrapolate in which direction trends are headed, which is not statistically viable, just "interesting" or "indicative". Also, a lot of non-English speakers use the tag cloud instead of doing a search, based on resolving IPs to geographic locale. On our site, 82% of the people that click on the tag cloud come from Asian or African nations. For example, if a Chinese visitor who does not speak English comes to the website and has no idea how to correctly spell a word like "alphabet" in English, s/he can easily scan the cloud and piece together that what s/he is seeing is what needs to be searched for. And it's faster and easier for those folks to click on the tag than try to write in something like "elfabet", "alfabbatt" or "arfebit" (all of which HAVE been searched for). I'm not saying the tag cloud is necessary, it obviously isn't. It's just another option to offer for people that might use it. And it does look pretty nifty if done well. I agree that "www.torrentz.com" uses it quite well - at a glance, it allows me to see what the hottest games, videos and music are. I may have gone there to download one thing and see a tag that I didn't know was available, thereby altering my experience on the site for the better (recognition of added content) . It's not a navigation replacement, nor is it a statistical goldmine, it is what it is - an option. On our site, it's been fairly successful. Do I use it? Hell no, I navigate using menus and bookmarks, like most folks. But it IS neat to see what people want today compared to last week, what terms wax and wane, and then try to figure out why. Thanks for reading! We have a tag cloud on our main page, a site catering to an international industry with a LOT of different products, and so LOTS of people doing searches.

First and foremost, we DO have proper navigation. Navigating off a tag cloud is like trying to have dinner while busting a bronco.

From our perspective, it’s interesting to see trends in the cloud, which we compile and publish monthly in one of our newsletters. Over the course of the last two years, it has shown changes in search trends and the terms used. Much like music charts, to the average person it’s not very useful, but it is interesting to see, read and extrapolate in which direction trends are headed, which is not statistically viable, just “interesting” or “indicative”.

Also, a lot of non-English speakers use the tag cloud instead of doing a search, based on resolving IPs to geographic locale. On our site, 82% of the people that click on the tag cloud come from Asian or African nations. For example, if a Chinese visitor who does not speak English comes to the website and has no idea how to correctly spell a word like “alphabet” in English, s/he can easily scan the cloud and piece together that what s/he is seeing is what needs to be searched for. And it’s faster and easier for those folks to click on the tag than try to write in something like “elfabet”, “alfabbatt” or “arfebit” (all of which HAVE been searched for).

I’m not saying the tag cloud is necessary, it obviously isn’t. It’s just another option to offer for people that might use it. And it does look pretty nifty if done well. I agree that “www.torrentz.com” uses it quite well – at a glance, it allows me to see what the hottest games, videos and music are. I may have gone there to download one thing and see a tag that I didn’t know was available, thereby altering my experience on the site for the better (recognition of added content) .

It’s not a navigation replacement, nor is it a statistical goldmine, it is what it is – an option. On our site, it’s been fairly successful. Do I use it? Hell no, I navigate using menus and bookmarks, like most folks. But it IS neat to see what people want today compared to last week, what terms wax and wane, and then try to figure out why.

Thanks for reading!

]]> By: Tagless http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-12785 Tagless Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:55:41 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-12785 Being a bit old school - I have no use for tags and REALLY hate those boxes with words moving all over. I don't like having things moving around on a webpage. It's distracting and annoying and creates more clutter. Being a bit old school – I have no use for tags and REALLY hate those boxes with words moving all over. I don’t like having things moving around on a webpage. It’s distracting and annoying and creates more clutter.

]]> By: kim http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-10103 kim Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:04:43 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-10103 hah! this thing so weird and annoying :D It is hard to the label what we want :P hah! this thing so weird and annoying :D It is hard to the label what we want :P

]]> By: Xeross http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-9839 Xeross Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:24:03 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-9839 I personally haven't used the tag cloud on my blog, categories do the job on this one. I personally haven’t used the tag cloud on my blog, categories do the job on this one.

]]> By: Nancy http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-8310 Nancy Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:54:48 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-8310 Consider the issue of a new site for a new organization where it's not clear what the main discussion items will be. Using tags rather than categories (and having the admin prune/combine/reset the tags as appropriate) allows an organic growth of information architecture. Granted, that's not the typical use of tags (which end up being a long list of topics that may or may not have much presence on the site), but I prefer them to the straitjacket of an initial set of categories that a time/expertise strapped web designer may come up with for the site. For me, tags still represent the messiness of user contributed content -- which may morph to a more formal structure which can't be accurately predicted at the start. Consider the issue of a new site for a new organization where it’s not clear what the main discussion items will be. Using tags rather than categories (and having the admin prune/combine/reset the tags as appropriate) allows an organic growth of information architecture. Granted, that’s not the typical use of tags (which end up being a long list of topics that may or may not have much presence on the site), but I prefer them to the straitjacket of an initial set of categories that a time/expertise strapped web designer may come up with for the site. For me, tags still represent the messiness of user contributed content — which may morph to a more formal structure which can’t be accurately predicted at the start.

]]> By: Espen Notodden http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-8002 Espen Notodden Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:47:46 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-8002 There are better ways to show off what you're blogging about than a tag cloud. In my opinion an alphabetical list of tags with number of posts behind in parenthesis are much more user friendly. Like: books(364) movies(15) music(78) There are better ways to show off what you’re blogging about than a tag cloud.
In my opinion an alphabetical list of tags with number of posts behind in parenthesis are much more user friendly.

Like:
books(364)
movies(15)
music(78)

]]> By: social GreenCamp http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-7623 social GreenCamp Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:19:39 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-7623 Yeh. I agree with you. We have seen that use of Tag cloud does not help viewers. Viewers do not like the mess in a website. It is all unnecessary staff. Yeh. I agree with you. We have seen that use of Tag cloud does not help viewers. Viewers do not like the mess in a website. It is all unnecessary staff.

]]> By: giridhar http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-7496 giridhar Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:34:52 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-7496 long ago, i was trying to get copyright patent for a mobile application that uses tag clouds. It didn't happen. This article is consoling :) long ago, i was trying to get copyright patent for a mobile application that uses tag clouds. It didn’t happen. This article is consoling :)

]]> By: John http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-7485 John Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:28:03 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-7485 Agree 100%. The current script I'm running on has a tag could on the sidebar and it bothers me beyond disbelief. Because many people upload to the site, the tags are not helpful at all or nor provide relevancy material half the time. I'd get rid of it if I could... Agree 100%. The current script I’m running on has a tag could on the sidebar and it bothers me beyond disbelief. Because many people upload to the site, the tags are not helpful at all or nor provide relevancy material half the time. I’d get rid of it if I could…

]]> By: Anatomy of The Perfect Sidebar – woorkup.com http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/#comment-7423 Anatomy of The Perfect Sidebar – woorkup.com Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:49:48 +0000 http://woorkup.com/?p=2348#comment-7423 [...] topsy_url = "http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/"; Popular now The Death of Tag Clouds 0 [...] [...] topsy_url = "http://woorkup.com/2010/01/20/the-death-of-tag-clouds/"; Popular now The Death of Tag Clouds 0 [...]

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