(Image Source: www.unilyzer.com) 

Social tagging, or social bookmarking is tagging a website and saving it for later to the web. These bookmarks can also be shared with friends. "Two of the largest social tagging services are FURL and del.icio.us." (Hedreen, 2005)  Different users can also look at what other people have found interesting enough to tag. Social tagging is different from standard search engines.  Standard search engines are generated by computers that often mis-categorize websites.  Social bookmarking is done by people that tend to be knowledgeable and informed on the particular subject.

The following chart displays the general rules to follow for social tagging:

(Image Source: www.socialmediaonline.com)

The words below are examples of tags that can be used in marking different websites.  Each tag can have multiple websites linked to it. Words that are larger have more links connected to that tag.

(Image Source: www.csl.sony.fr)

Social Tagging in Education

All levels of education can benefit from social tagging.  Potentially, it is another efficient tool both teachers and students can use.  "Social networking in education opens doors to an unprecedented array of learning opportunities in an environment where educators often feel freer to express themselves, share their ideas and be catalysts for change." (Carvin, 2008)

Social tagging can be a useful tool for teachers.  "Instead of individually saving the site in a variety of folders, you just type a few keywords called tags (Langston Hughes, alliteration, Black History, metaphor, rubric, and so on.), and your sites are organized automatically with sites saved by other users, using those same keywords." (Jackson, 2009)  Teachers can bookmark sites that interest them and organize the sites in specific folders. Teachers can either share the sites with his or her students or with fellow teachers and administrators.  Social tagging is completely web based, so access is possible anywhere as long as the teacher as access to a computer with internet connectivity.  "In addition to browsing your own bookmarks, you can also browse the bookmarks of others, whether by looking at the bookmarks of those marked 'friends' or by browsing the sites of those who have bookmarked similar or identical sites." (Bryant, 2006)

Students can use social tagging as a collaborative and/or individual tool for the student and/or student groups to use. A group account can be established, with the password passed around to the group.  Another option is that a group can establish a unique tag and tag all group-related links with it.  Other people, outside of the class, can add sites as well just by using the same tag.  Students can also use social tagging as a tool for individual use.  A student can establish a personal account to use to gather sites for his or her use.  

Share Your Ideas

How have you used social tagging as an instructor or a student? Please share your ideas in the comments section below. 

Web Links for Social Tagging

Link for education results for delicious.com

http://delicious.com/search?p=education&chk=&context=main%7C&fr=del_icio_us&lc=

Homepage for social tagging website www.furl.com

http://www.furl.com/

Link to the article "Social Software in Academia" by Todd Bryant

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0627.pdf

Link to more information on social tagging

http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Social_bookmarking_tools

Video Links for Social Tagging

Video on the basics of delicious.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_u-1kstWs  

Video from and educator's point of view on social bookmarking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_u-1kstWs

References

Hedreen, R. (2005). Questions Answered by the Distance Education Librarian at Buley Library, Southern Connecticut State University . Retrieved from http://frequanq.blogspot.com/2005/02/social-bookmarking-in-education.html

Carvin, A. (2008, July 1). PBS Teachers Embrace Social Networking and Bookmarking Tools. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2008/07/pbs_teachers_embraces_social_n_1.html

Jackson, L. (2009). Sites to See: Social Bookmarking. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml

Bryant, T. (2006). Social Software in Academia. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0627.pdf