I may be describing something that already exists here, but if I am, I’m not aware of it.

A few of my friends who have blogs are doing something they call “tagging”. It’s not a good name for the practice, as “tagging” already means something else in the blog world. Here’s a basic rundown of how it goes:

1. I write a post. For example, the post is: “10 things about me that would surprise my friends”
2. At the end of the post, I “tag” my friends. This involves putting a list of people’s names, which are linked to their blog.
3. In “tagging” them, I am basically asking them to make the same post “10 things about me….” about themselves on their own blogs.

The problem: unless the people I tag read my blog, they are not aware of my request.

So, I’m trying to figure out a way to automate this “tagging”. Again, I hate that name, so from now on, I’m going to call it “monkeying”.

The ideal way (to me at least) would to have a “monkey” field in your blogging software. You’d list the names you want to ping, and when you submit your post, they are notified via email and their blogging software also contains the request. Just like MySpace, you could approve or deny your “monkey” requests.

If you approve:
You are redirected to a “Write Post” screen, which automagically quotes the original request. You make your post, and the person that sent you the “monkey” receives notification of your post.

If you deny:
The person that sent you the “monkey” gets an email notice, and their blogging sofware automatically deletes them from your post (ie the link to them is removed within the post).

I think this would be a very popular feature among blogs. It would not only result in greater collaboration and communication among bloggers, it would also, by nature, create a “directory” of content. If someone reads your post, and that post is interesting to you, you’d also be able to follow the “monkeys”, and read other blogs that are talking about the same topic.

Popularity: 5% [?]