Personal taxonomies?

One of the core requirements that would need to be in place in order to nail the connection between the individual and the merchant trying to reach them is communicating in terms that (as I’ve mentioned before) truly resonate. This is not just a matter of creating an end-users behavioral profile (no small feat in itself), but actually creating copy that is specific to the individual. This touches on a number of issues, one of which, component content management, has been commented on in previous posts. The other aspect that defines the content experience is not focused on how the information is managed, but on how it’s created. This is where the idea of a “personal taxonomy” comes into play. Everyone uses their native language a little differently, everyone has pet terms and expressions they like to use—I know this because I have a five year old who is beginning to sound just like me; while it’s usually cute, it has occasionally blown up in my face.

People in general are more comfortable with people like themselves, and a big part of that is how you communicate with each other. Creating a personal taxonomy that is specific to the targeted individual would be a huge step forward towards personalization, the question of course, is how do you do it? And there is an answer to that as well, which I will address during the coming weeks.