June 23, 2011
-
Coming Soon - Easier #Tagging for @Everyone
We've long had a tagging feature for weblog entries, but most Xangans (including me) have never really used it regularly.
Because the new Related Posts module depends on tags - and because there are lots of other cool things we can do with tags - we asked a bunch of you why you weren't tagging more often. And we got two pretty consistent answers:
- it's kind of a pain
- people don't seem to click on the tags anyway.
To address both of these issues, we're updating the tagging feature - for both keyword tags and user tags - so that you can easily add tags on-the-fly, right inside your posts!
- Keyword Tagging - just add a pound sign (#) in front of any word in your post, and we'll automatically convert it into a linked keyword tag (pointing to your other posts that might share that tag)
- User Tagging - just add an "@" symbol in front of any username, and we'll automatically convert it into a linked user tag (pointing to that user's site)
I'm particularly excited about this new approach to user tagging because it always felt odd to have to check off a separate list of, "People mentioned in this post," rather than just mentioning them straight in the post itself. Also I'm hoping this new approach will help curb some of the quasi-spammy use of this feature just to get user-tagged people to visit your post. But either way, remember that you can always turn off email updates about user tags:
http://edit.xanga.com/editaccountsettings.aspx
And we're going to provide a way to turn off universal inbox updates about user tags as well.
We'll let you know when this feature launches!
P.S. Just a heads up for the very small number of you who currently use the old user tagging system: it's going to disappear from your editor soon - probably sometime today. We'll be replacing it with this updated system, which we hope to launch shortly!
Comments (70)
So Xanga is trying to be like Twitter? Gotcha.
Just tried to tag the usual way and it didn't work. Now I know why.
"I'm particularly excited about this new approach to user tagging"....Ditto!
My tag feature never worked, so I think this is great! It's a bit Twitter-like, but it makes sense, as that form of keyword use is now familiar to people. Good job and keep up the creative ideas!
Thanks!
interesting... I'll admit this will probably make me use them more!
nice!!!!
This sounds good to me.
Can you make it possible to turn off the "share comment" feature? It is flooding my home page.
I could get used to this change.
DOOOOO EEEEEET
I think it's a great idea. I do have one question though... will tagging still be limited to those on your Friend's list, or will this open up user tagging to include anyone with a Xanga blog?
@MyxlDove - we're thinking of opening it up to anyone, which is also why we're going to provide more control over which user-tag alerts you get (and from whom).
I use the current (old) tagging system because I've been working with the related posts module for a while now. In fact, when I first got it, I went through every single post and tagged 'em based on relatedness... hurrah for spare time.
Anyway, I hope changing tagging systems won't remove current tags?
"And we're going to provide a way to turn off universal inbox updates about user tags as well."
P.S. While you're providing a way to turn off universal inbox updates about stuff, is there going to be a way to opt-out of comment rec updates at some point? That might be fun. It's getting hard to see posts...
@nikbv@lovelyish - heh, no it will not remove current tags... We'll definitely have to loop back into inbox controls at some point too - as we add more stuff, filtering definitely becomes more important.
@marc - Fantastic! I'm someone who used regular and user tags a lot. It was always a bit frustrating to find out I couldn't tag someone in a post because they weren't a "friend" even though I was subbed to them. This meant I had to send a friend request and wait for that person to log on and accept it before I could complete my post. And to be quite honest, I'm not a friend collector, but this forced me to send friend requests to people for the sole purpose of having the ability to tag them. Anyway, just thought I'd provide that bit of feedback if it helps make a difference.
that's cool. a feature i would like to see though is comment links. when looking at the "who left e-props" list i would like to be able to click the persons name and instead of going to their site be taken to their comment. this would save me from having to scroll through all the garbage if there are people who's comments i generally enjoy/find helpful.
Hey, I like the tagging system the way it is now!
Good stuff. Might take awhile for me to get used to this, but I like it.
@AmericanAlien
Will the "@" appear with the name in the body of the post, or will it be hidden? For Twitter it's fine to have it visible, but it would be distracting in a full blog post.
I was actually trying to tag a person this morning and couldn't find the feature... makes sense now. I actually have started using it more often now.... but I can't wait for this feature! =D
Why don't I just go make a damned Twitter account. Gawd.
As a regular user of the old tagging system and fairly frequent user (but not abuser) of the user tags, I'm looking forward to this new system. It's extremely frustrating to have to scroll through hundreds of names looking for the one I mentioned in my post, and even more frustrating to scroll through hundreds of names only to realize I never friended the person I mentioned in my post. Will the friend feature become passe now?
That is great. I am glad to see you continuing to add new features.
At first glance, this new tagging system seems to be a violation of the KISS principle. My tags are descriptive, but I don't necessarily use a word in the text as a tag. You aren't going to screwing up the way I want to tag my entries with this new system, are you?
@janusfiles - the old (current) keyword tagging system will remain intact
Oh hell yes. So much more natural now that we're all used to twitter. Hope no backwards-compatibility problems crop up for yall though.
I have found the tagging system a bit cumbersome, but I do use it, particularly as an index to help me find, sort through and organize older posts. Though I don't have many visitors to my site, I do find people come and click on my tags from time to time.
I'm so glad to hear the old tags aren't disappearing, but I'm wondering if/how the new tags will work in conjunction with the old. For example, in the new system, will the new tags interface w/ the old system, e.g. - under the new system, if I write a post with the tag "psalms," will that still show up under the link http://myusername.xanga.com/tags/psalms or not? I would really miss that not happening.
At first it seemed the related posts feature was generating pretty good matches to my posts, but then as I started to look more, it seems not so much. It looks like the feature doesn't seem to search back very far into the archives to generate related posts.
For a while now I've been adding related posts (not w/ pictures, only the text links) to the bottom of my posts, and people do seem to click on those. I realize the pictures are definitely more catchy and will get more clicks. I'm wondering if there'd be a way for us to tip Xanga off as to what related posts we'd want to show instead of relying on the automatic feature, so that way we'd be assured of a better match to the original post?
Thanks for your help.
reminds me of facebook and twitter
@naphtali_deer - the old tags and new tags should work together. If you write "#psalms" inside a post *or* add a "psalms" tag directly into the tag field, both will generate links to the same page - /tags/psalms - where you'd find any older posts tagged with "psalms" as well.
(For posts that are tagged) is your related posts module showing posts that do not share at least one tag? Thanks!
Isn't this a rip-off of #twitter? #notwinning
@marc - Thanks! That's great news to hear they'll work together like that.
Yes, the posts do have at least one related tag. I guess the problem is I am a bit too "tag happy."
Thanks!
#winning
Okay, to the people who are comparing this to Twitter, you do realize you can't BLOG on Twitter, yes? This is a blogging site that has just decided to add new features to make your blogging experience easier. Yes, Xanga isn't the first site to make use of these features, but to compare it to Twitter, even so far as to saying, "Why don't I just make a Twitter account" I think you're a little off.
Now in regards to the post itself, if such feature would help people more with tagging, then I support it.
@Southeast_Beauty - Agreed
Very nice, Both Facebook and Twitter use a similar style of tagging, so it's a common feature that should be easily used....and welcomed.
Good to follow suite on this one, and I plan to use this feature more in the BFN Xanga News updates (makes life a lot easier this way)...
nice work.
@Southeast_Beauty - TRUE THAT, HOMEGIRL! YOU CAN RUN AND TELL THAT! ;D
@Southeast_Beauty - Thank you. "Tagging" DID NOT ORIGINATE IN TWITTER.
We've been able to add keywords into our blog posts for a long time now. Now they're just making it easier.
Only the hash-tagging seems "Twitterish" other than that, Xanga's still the same.
I am glad to see you're still adding/improving things around Xanga.
Yes, I'm really excited about this!
@fLiPgUy31O - LOL Why, thank you, sir! Fo'sho.
@stupid_systemus - Word.
Brilliant additional feature!! Well done. I am using tagging intensively. I think it is one of the coolest features on Xanga and very useful.
I have been trying, on occasion, to tag some of the surveys people conduct. Have been told, "Hit the TAG button." There is no such animal in this zoo.
@Southeast_Beauty - Can I give you a high five? o/
I have no tagging ability at all yet. My old way of doing it is gone yet the new one is not available yet. When??
I don't care that it's like Twitter; it's helpful.
@Roadlesstaken - Yes! You can give me a low five, too, while we're at it! Gaga style. Haha.
@Southeast_Beauty - You said it best.
I am not sure why people are against xanga upgrading based off all the knowledge that is on the Internet and applying those upgrades to a blogging situation.
Interesting.
I hope you would keep the current system as well, since I would type in Chinese and my tags usually would not appear in the content.
Also, for the user tags, if someone's name is just Peter, but his blog has name like Peter_Brian_Craig_19810724, then I will not want to type his whole blog name just for tagging him. And I would rather tagging him by just a few clicks.
Therefore, though I like the new system, but I still want to keep the old system as well.
Q: How will we differentiate #1, #2, #3, etc?
You should also make it so that hashtags also link to any other post with that tag throughout all of Xanga, not just one person's site. Go all in.
Will this work in pulses also? And the same way you have a separate button for recs, can you have one for rec'd comments?
oooh I like the user tagging thing! nice.
Thank you, Xanga Team.
I see one little problem with this. What if you are using the # as part of the text of an entry, and you are not intending to make it a tag? For example, in the body of an entry, you are referring to issue #100 of a magazine. How do we make certain that "100" doesn't become a tag?
For that matter, I number all of my entries, and begin all of my entries with the heading "ENTRY #XX." Again, I don't necessarily want those appearing as tags.
I use tags for all of my entries, as they're like label's in gmail, it helps me to find my entries much easier~!
Cool
I might bring back all my entries which are private, the only problem is this will take me ages to do (and hopefully boost some traffic)
Question: I often use two or three word phrases as tags. For instance, today's post has "weeping angels" and "Doctor Who" as tags. How will that work using the # symbol? Will I have to hyphenate the words in the phrase?
When will the usertags be working with the @?
@nikbv@lovelyish - Love your remark, "hurrah for spare time" - I've long wanted to go through all my old posts and clean up tags, etc. If only I had some of that "hurrah" time! LOL
Good improvement, along with the related posts feature. Things like this drive more interactivity, both between users and also amongst content. That's important if the goal is to create a true network.
Nice!
Cool.
Please.Giveme...Your Best Smaly
hay this is awesome
Thanks very much for the information, I may welcome you to teaspoon to tablespoon website having truly precious stuff to read,
Sue
اجمل دردشة عراقية رومنسية ترفيهية يظم كافة العراقيين والعرب والاجانب
شات عراقنا
دردشة عراقنا
جات عراقنا
شلة عراقنا
عراقنا
شات العراق
دردشة عراقية
شات كيكه
دردشة عبدالله
جات
دردشة
منتدى دردشة عراقنا
منتدى عراقنا
google