The Pew survey (blogged here) that says 28% of respondents have tagged or categorized content is startling. And 7% said they had tagged or categorized something that very day. Wow.

Pew does good work, but let’s say the number is off way beyond the margin of error. Say it’s off by 50%. Or 75%. Or 90%. I don’t believe it’s anywhere near that wrong, but even if it were, that’s still about 3% of US Internet users creating tags. How many taggers do we need for tags to become a vital resource for the entire Web and all its denizens?

Even if just 1% of Web users tagged resources with some regularity, they would be creating handholds for the other 99%. That 1% will add a layer of meaning (or “semantics,” if you prefer the way that sounds) that will seed enough innovation and connectedness of ideas—and thus of people—that we’ll have to go straight from Web 2.0 to Web 4.0. (Web 3.0 is about the Web getting “lemony-scented,” so it’s just as well that we’re skipping it.) [Tags: tagging pew everything_is_miscellaneous web2.0 ]