Tagggit product leads the way

A NEW mobile platform that allows users to "tag" their favourite pubs, clubs and locations, to share with friends, has been launched.

The Tagggit application, which was developed by Irishman Loughlin Spollen with the help of John Fogarty, can be downloaded to a compatible mobile phone and used on the move to create tags at whatever location you choose.

It brings a new dimension to social networking by allowing users to build communities online to share their favourite tags with friends or others with similar interests.

Tags can be set to private to keep them for personal use, or shared with the Tagggit community by making them public. The tags are generated using wireless positioning to triangulate the locations, which is based on WiFi.

Spollen got the idea for the application after spending some time travelling, when he had difficulty finding accommodation in foreign locations. However, the application may have wider uses, he says.

"The idea is that if you are in a pub, and it does a decent pint of Guinness, you can tag it and share it with your friends," says Spollen.

While small towns and cities in Ireland may not have much call for directions to the local pub, users in larger cities abroad, such as London, are perfectly placed to take advantage of Tagggit.

"There's 22 million people in the greater London Metropolitan area. I've lived in London for the last 18 months. If you move from one side of the city to the other you don't know the area," he says.

"If you're trying to meet people or trying to find places, you just open up your phone and do a search for different tags. For example, if you're interested in indie pubs, you can join a community for that."

Tagggit has already won fans among online users, with people signing up at a rate of around 40 per day with little or no publicity for the site.