Dealing with the long tail: Providing uniformity to compound tags

In using social tags, it has been a challenge to deal with the long tail of the tag distribution. A good portion of tag distribution includes compound tags. Based on the observation that the various forms of compound tags exist in a tag data set, this study tests a way to process various compound tag forms into a uniformed form. The tag uniformity process is introduced with the decomposition algorithm by identifying forms of compound tags. With the tag uniformity process, this study explores the potential of better use of social tags by reducing tag noise and shortening the long tail of the tag distribution. In addition, it is expected that the uniformity process will enhance the effectiveness of the measurements for tag use such as tag frequency. The results demonstrate that the tag uniformity process can successfully shorten the long tail and make the tag frequency precise as a measurement. Although the uniformity process may not solve all the issues related to the long tail, it can be implicated for improving tag analysis and services using tags. The benefits and limitations as well as potential implications of the tag uniformity process for tag analysis and use are discussed.