Why people tag

My friend Jason Tester, the research and design manager at the Institute for the Future, sent me this email:

On the bus this morning I saw a San Francisco gov't ad that said something like "Is tagging ruining your neighborhood? Stop the tags!"

I totally forgot the graffiti connection to the idea of tagging until I saw the ad. Did some Google-ing. Check out this page, Vandal Watch: Stopping Vandalism in Your Neighborhood.

Scroll down to the Tagging FAQ and read the sentences as if they're talking about del.icio.us or Flickr. Pretty funny.

From the Tagging FAQ:

Why Do Taggers Tag?
Recognition
Low self-esteem
Peer recognition
For recognition; a distorted view of "fame"
See it in the community and want to try it too