Fred Wilson on tagging...del.icio.us

Fred Wilson is a venture capital guy.
He is in the business of funding other businesses.
Information technology, particularly internet applications, is his forte.

del.icio.us is a really interesting web service that lets anyone who uses it "tag the internet".
Most people, me included, go there for the first time, look at del.icio.us, and then shake their heads and say "I don't get it".

But for those who come back and actually use it, the experience is very different.
del.icio.us becomes a critical tool for them to manage their web experiences.
That's what happened to me. That's what happened to Brad. That's what happened to Charlie.
So we figured we ought to pay some attention to del.icio.us.

What we learned when we dug into it is that "tagging" is a relatively new, but increasingly important, phenomenon on the web.

Simply put, tagging is the exercise of associating words, any words you want to use, with URLs. That's all it is - a series of words and URLs. The words are the tags. But when lots of people start tagging with a similar tool and similar words, and the tags are shared, some very interesting things result.

That's the tickler.
If Fred Wilson says it's important, that means it's important.

Not this minute, but when you have more time, come back to this post, then link to Fred Wilson's blog, follow the links, and learn about tagging.
If you're like me, it won't all sink in at first glance. Like he said,"I don't get it."
He's in the business, so if HE said that, I don't expect to be any faster on the uptake.

IMPORTANT...Be sure to follow the link to John Udell's screencast. Turn on your speakers, get ready with your mouse so you can follow what is about to happen on your monitor, and enjoy.
I can't wait to get some time to spare so I can go here and play.
This is gonna be fun.