Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Tries Its Hand at Tagging
Kailash Nadh writes "Amazon has formed a 'tags team' and has begun using tags on some pages. The idea, apparently, is to slowly experiment with tags and to give users some power over how certain Amazon products - books, for example - are categorized." From the article: "Ultimately, this is interesting because it may well prove to be the most visible example of a company incorporating tags as a way to bring order to information. Outfits like Flickr are big and have tremendous followings, but nothing compared to Amazon's. And if Amazon can make a go of tagging, that may finally be the tipping point that makes the technology something every Tom, Dick and Harry knows about."
Q: How can you tell a blonde has been shopping on Amazon using your computer?
A: There's spray paint on the screen.
And just wait until Dick looks up all the stuff people have tagged with his name.
News.com.com will report that Amazon has received a patent "for the ability of a web object to be identified by the site's users' input of short descriptions or keywords."
As an ex-record store owner, I stopped selling due to Amazon's competitive pricing and selection. I'm a fan of competition, yet the music scene I catered to is completely gone as stores like mine ran the street teams that grew the movements.
Now, Amazon finds a great way to cut salaries by skipping the need for hiring description editors. Still good for the consumer, and in the long run everyone will do better with the savings they reap, creating new and interesting markets.
I forsee this heavy competition leading to manufacturer direct sales, completed cutting Amazon out. They have to be very careful in offering not just cheap and fast, but great return policies and strong user customization of the sites.
"Dear Amazon.com customer, Based on your previous apparel, jewelry, and kids' purchases, we thought you might like to know you can save 20% to 50% at the (retailer name removed) Half-Yearly Sale, going on now! Save on a great selection of apparel, shoes, and accessories for women and kids."
Of course there are holes in Amazon's logic:
1. I have never made any apparel, jewelry and kids' purchases at amazon.com
2. Amazon does not ship those things outside the US anyway and I'm in Canada so it's *impossible* for me to buy those things.
3. Even if I wanted to buy anything at this retailer's sale, they only ship apparel, shows and accessories within the US.
4. I am not a woman.
Great job, Amazon.com. Keep showing me, a heterosexual non-american male, all that gay-interest stuff in the gold box and I'm sure to bite sooner or later. Or maybe this is supposedly how homophobes think a person 'turns' gay.
Come on, someone has to have some kind of massive tagging system for porn. Anyone? Damn it, when will I be able to satisfy my desire of finding tattooed girls with brightly-dyed hair wearing jog bras and boxers? It can't just be me, can it?
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Well, for one its not a blackthing. If you don't even know what it looks like, I wonder how you've determined if its "overhyped."