Jeff Pulver is onto something with his face-to-face social tagging efforts.

Exhibit A: Yesterday’s breakfast gathering of some 40 of Jeff’s Facebook and Twitter friends at the S&S Restaurant & Deli in Inman Square in Cambridge for 2-3 hours of good food and even better conversation.

Social tagging in action, in case you’re wondering, means the following:

• Grab a stickie note
• Write a word or phrase on it that describes the person you want to tag
• Slap that tag on a fellow attendee’s shirt or blouse.

I was tagged as “proud dad” and “podcast guy.” Sounds just about right, doesn’t it?

Jeff also encouraged us to leave “wall posts” on the clothing of our fellow breakfasters (white stickie = tag; yellow stickie = wall post, in case you’re keeping score at home)

Here’s why social tagging — and yesterday’s breakfast, in particular — can work so well:

• Social tags are excellent conversation starters — for the tagger, the tagged, and the stranger checking out those tags.
• Online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter help us build relationships around like-minded interests, and face-to-face events help us to strengthen those relationships.
• Who’s going to turn down free breakfast?

It also doesn’t hurt when events like these happen in places like Boston, a true “social media hub.” Jeff is smart to tap into this crowd.

Jeff Pulver on face-to-face social tagging

Here’s my interview with Jeff at the conclusion of yesterday’s breakfast. Our talk covers a wide range of subjects:

• Why Jeff has started social tagging events
• How tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Seesmic are changing the way we communicate
• The need to experiment
• How social media has evolved in 2007 and where it might be headed in 2008.

(Photos courtesy of Dave Fisher.)

 

 An interview with Jeff Pulver about social tagging and social media [08:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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