A new spin on tag clouds
As new as tags and tag clouds are, we've already got a second generation to show you. Tags developed on Flickr only a couple years ago as a way to quickly organize photos. They have since proliferated across the social web, organizing books, thoughts, goals -- anything you can imagine. (We even made a tag cloud for our Social Web Literacy class.) Then lists of tags were placed into visually understandable tag clouds. Tag clouds are swarms of words which display larger or smaller based on how often an object or idea was tagged.
But what happens if you twist the idea a bit. Instead of ranking and displaying based on how many times the subject was tagged, base it upon how many times a tag is clicked. It might be an academic exercise (and thus completely boring to non-geeks), but who knows where the new concept might lead. We can at least show you where you can see it in action: The State of Delaware's website.
There's always innovation on the Social Web and creativity can come from anyone and anywhere. That's because anyone with Internet access can now create online; anyone can participate. We invite you to participate now. Explore the social web for yourself. See what's out there. Find your niche. Be creative. Have fun. And please share your stories and experiences with us.