We use tags to categorise images, blogposts, audios, videos and other online content to make it easier for individuals to locate creative works via the web. Tagging is a key element when it comes to the interaction with people online through social media. Facebook sums up my interpretation of tagging on their home page by categorising the different ways in which may tag something
- tagging people in your posts to create links for users to follow,
- tagging people in photos or other online content for it to appear on their personal profile
- tagging details on other peoples content to contribute to what they may have missed
These points revolving around the term tagging loosely apply to other social media sites including Instagram and Twitter.
Three Tagging Points: (https://www.facebook.com/about/tagging)
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Tag people in your posts
Add tags to anything you post, including photos and updates. Tags can point to your friends or anyone else on Facebook. Adding a tag creates a link that people can follow to learn more.
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Tell people about stuff they’re in
Adding tags can let people know when they’re in photos or other things you share. People you tag can receive a notification so they can see your post. The post may also go on the person’s profile and appear in their friends’ news feeds.
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Help tag things other people missed
You can tag other people’s photos and posts to help them add details. Your name appears with the tag, so it’s always clear where it came from.
Another form of tagging used widely amongst the media and millennials are Hashtags (#). Hashtags share the same purpose as tagging in making it easier for users to find new pages by clicking on a keyword or phrase highlighting a certain topic. For example, “chocolate” could be a hashtag, and so could “cadbury fruit and nut dark chocolate.” One is a broad word and the other is a phrase that’s far more specific. Users have the freedom to hashtag whatever they want to sum up a photo or online post and attract more followers.
Here is an example where I was tagged by my sister in an Instagram comment section to remind me to watch the TV show, Girls.