Inspired by the MillionDollarHomePage, there’s a new site called 1000tags.com that is a bit more experimental in nature, in that it is trying to slap a commercial face on the “tag cloud” concept. From their FAQ, “1000tags is a project that aims to put to the test in its simplest form the viability of tagging as a way to advertise.” If this is even mildly successful, I believe you will see Google, Yahoo and other advertisers trying this out in some manner.
I don’t believe that this form of advertising will take the place of current text or banner ads any time soon. For most people, they probably don’t see the point of a cloud of words and phrases. It may however find a way to complement current conventional ads. As it stands, Google and Yahoo at a minimum have already figured out the value in social bookmarking and other forms of tagging by snapping up companies such as del.icio.us and making a push to integrate the technology into their existing services. This can only be a good thing for the Web and the Web user.
I wish I had thought of this, but I also wish the guys doing this the best of luck. Perhaps one day, I’ll sit down and try to wrap my head around tagging, folksonomies and the Semantic Web. Of course, it’ll be just a matter of time before there are a few dozen imitators. I have to admit that I partially wrote this blog entry for the free publicity we’ll get by having a link off of the site, but 1000tags.com is offering and I’m grabbing the proverbial bull by the horns. Thanks guys! 😉