Using the network -- tags

One of the most common questions I get asked is "how do I find posts on a particular topic?"

You can always use the search bar (just above the main navigation) and then look for results labelled 'blog post', but another really good way to manage content so that people can find it by topic is to have an effective tag system.

What are tags?

Tags are really commonly used online, and are quite simply labels that are used to group or organise content so it can be found later (kind of like labelling the jars in your pantry).  Wikipedia has some more info on tags if you're interested.

We do have tags currently in use in our site, anyone making a post in our network can add a tag to their post. You'll see the field to type into when you make a new blog post (under the title, see image below). 

 

When you add a tag to your post, the system turns it into a clickable link that other people can then use to find content.

Try it out

Take a look at this page, which shows all the tags people have used in the site. At the top of the list, you can see 'uncategorized' (1327). That's how many posts there are without any tags at all! The list is alphabetical - scroll down and find the one labelled 'breast reconstruction'. Click on it and you'll see all the posts using that tag (the number 8 in the brackets means there are 8 posts). I think my favourite one is 'my head resembles a brillo pad!' (thanks Tonya :).

The problem with tags

The biggest problem with tags, is that everyone labels things differently, and sometimes we (all of us!) mis-spell.   For example, in our online network, we have three tags for the same topic: tamoxafin   tamoxifan and  tamoxifen .   For a tagging system to be really useful, they all need to be spelt the same if they mean the same, so the person who wants to find posts on 'tamoxifen' can click on one link and find all the posts.

What can we do?

Starting next week, we're going to make a big effort to clean up the tags in use in the site. We'll do that by amalgamating some of the existing tags (like the tamoxifen one) and also fixing some of the broken tags in use (where people have used something other than a comma to separate tags).  We'll also add new ones that make sense to us, to your posts as you make them if you don't add your own (if you think we've added something to one of your posts that doesn't fit, you can go and edit/change it, but at least there will be a tag there to start with).  There's actually a name for this kind of activity, it's called 'Tag Wrangling'! :).  

How you can help

There's a few things you can do:

• Add a tag to your post when you make a new one. By all means use something funny or amusing or that makes sense to you, but if you can also use something that you think will make sense to our other community members, even better.  You can add as many tags as you like to a post, sometimes people use tags to describe the topic (chemo, side-effects, nipples!) or their mood (sad, happy, exhausted). Anything that helps you or someone else find what they're looking for is good.  NOTE: if your posts are set to contacts only, adding a tag will not make them show up publicly.
• Separate tags with a comma and a space (not a semi-colon, or colon) there's an example of how to do it, right underneath the tag field
• Go back and fix any broken or missing tags on your older posts -- if you pause a bit after you've started typing (like with Google), the system will show you what other tags there already are like yours. You can pick one of those or make a new one. 

As I said, myself, Daina and Bonnie will also keep an eye on what's being posted, and add or correct broken tags as we see them.  In short, we will be in ur posts, wrangling ur tags (err, that joke probably doesn't work for anyone who hasn't seen LOLcats :). Tag Wrangling does mean we'll need to edit and re-submit your post, but we won't touch anything in your content other than the tag.

Let me know in the comments if that doesn't make sense or you have questions, otherwise, thanks for your help and happy tagging! 

Let's see how low we can get that 'uncategorized' number by the end of the week.