A few months back, my friend Michael Braley chided me good naturedly about not having tagged my photos on FLickR (specifically, I hadn't labled pictures of my dog, Buddy, with his given name). I tucked my tail between my legs and have been rather more diligent about tagging my pictures since then. I even use the maps locator feature, which I like, and I wish FLickR highlighted it more.
A couple days ago I got an invitation to contribute a photo of Buddy to the FlickR group Dogs named Buddy. Taking seriously any invitation for attention, I complied. So, Buddy has a manifestation in the social networking world.
In today's New York Times, there is an article about GPS tracking of pets, and a new market opening up for collar-borne GPS trackers that relay perambulatory reports to a either a hand-held GPS unit, or a server upon return to home. Pet movements, home or afield, can be uploaded and viewed online. One product even supports handshaking protocols (though, as any dog owner knows, in the canine world it would more aptly be described as butt-sniffing encounters). Imagine, your Facebook-feed could have real-time updates of your pet's activities and meetings with similarly 'tagged' pets. Parents might wonder if there is a version for sneakers coming soon.
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The image of buddy that came to the attention of the Dogs Named Buddy group (though I like this one even more ). Other of my Buddy pictures are here.
