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I have found really informed article on folksonomies and taxonomies at FUMSI today here. The author comes down on the side of a blended approach as do we, and adds some useful insight into how this can fail.

I would also expand on the use of folksonomies for marketing insight, whether it is for SEO purposes, i.e. getting at the keywords/keyphrases that you haven’t considered – or getting further into the personas of your visitors/customers.

This is also an important consideration for intranets and extranets, where the author knows their content as the say the “Maintenance Manual v01.02″, and the users know it as “the blue book”.

I think that this is also, in the context of the online world, an example of the top down or bottom up approach challenge.

Once again a mixture of both is what you should aim for – of course whoever commissions the site has expert (read taxonomy) knowledge, that can at its worst manifest itself as a case of “I know best, not my customers” and may make things hard to find for the non-expert visitor.

Conversely taking the opposite viewpoint that starts from the “I know little about the product/service” can end up talking down to the visitor and may end up failing to deliver the site’s value.

The best sites cater for all visitors, understanding their differing personas and goals and delivering the best product/content for them.