Last week I discovered an interesting project called Brand Tags (Brandtags.net), a website that lets visitors “tag” globally-recognized brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, GE, etc.
Tagging is a common function built into peer-to-peer social networks and web-based applications. For example, while watching YouTube videos or looking at photos on Flickr, you may notice a cluster of descriptive words to the right. Those are “tags” that the user has added to help categorize where the video belongs. Brand Tags works in a similar fashion, except that you tag based on your perception (not categorization) of the brands.
Brand Tags is fascinating because it gives us a window into the collective mind of hundreds of thousands of people and how they currently perceive large companies — companies that spend billions of dollars to shape our perceptions.
Below are a couple examples of brands and their corresponding tags:
Brand: Apple
Tags: Cool, Design, Awesome, Innovation
http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=72
Brand: MySpace
Tags: Annoying, Friends, Music, Kids, Teenagers, Ugly
http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=41
Brand: Google
Tags: Search, Everything, God, Evil
http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=2
Brand: McDonald’s
Tags: Cheap, Fat, Food, Unhealthy
http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=47
The Brand Tags project is just another example of how social mediums have leveled the playing field between large organizations and their consumers.
Posted by Nathan on
May 23rd, 2008 @ 3:11 pm | Filed under Social Media
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Hey Nathan -
Happy Friday.
I saw this also and thought about it. Although I’m not sure I would consider this ‘leveling’ the playing field so much - sometimes I feel like things like ‘brand tags’ are too easy for corporations to write off.
I imagine Google results tend to have a bigger impact. But you would know better - in your adventures promoting social media, is it getting harder for companies to ignore?
I would assume yes. I would hope yes.
It really does give a unique snapshot of public perception, albeit a limited one. The drawback about a voluntary, web-based pool is that it tends to attract people who have already invested in some way. But for companies with investment in web infrastructure, tech companies and the like, it should be made required reading.