Why Is Tagged is Taking Everyone’s Lunch?

Hmm, it has something to do with social discovery.

I know – we talk about engagement a lot when it comes to social media and content since the focus has now shifted from push marketing to interaction.  Interaction goes beyond adding Facebook and Twitter buttons, posting to a blog every once in a while, or even posting a video A true commitment to transparency, site/topic/content authority, credibility and relevant content is essential to the building blocks of an engagement strategy.

But what does that mean and what does it have to do with Tagged?  Well, according to Social Media Today, there are 7 levels of social media engagement - Internal/Enterprise adoption, social media monitoring and eavesdropping, social media as a broadcast medium and viral distribution, campaigning, collaborative, and finally, people powered social media.  In the last category, people powered social media is where the concept of “social discovery” can be key.  Social discovery aims to connect us with new people, places and things, (WITHOUT the assumption of romantic interest).  And social discovery is where Tagged is taking no prisoners.

According to Comscore, Tagged engages users beyond the usual suspects of Facebook, Twitter, even Pinterest.  Tagged’s “10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month,” says co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng in a Mashable article.   The average age of a Tagged user is in their 30’s, and they use the portal to meet new people based on shared interest, hobbies, lifestyle or tastes. On sites like Facebook, users use the platform to maintain offline relationships.

So, what could this possibly mean for marketers?  Well, for one, if social discovery turns out to be the next wave in social media (which it is), it means that understanding context, lifestyle and behavioral interest, relevancy and content curation are going to be the key for any campaign on any platform.  This, of course,  is another paradigm shift for marketing.

What do you think?  Is social discovery going to be all that it is cracked up to be?