1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a database system from a first user of the database system, an indication of a first record stored in a database of the database system; receiving, at the database system from the first user, a public tag for associating the public tag with the first record, wherein the public tag is an attribute of the first record; determining whether the public tag is already associated with the first record; applying the public tag to the first record only in response to a determination that the public tag is not already associated with the first record, such that only a single instance of the public tag is associated, in the database, with the first record, by: determining that the public tag is not already associated with the first record by determining that the first record does not already have a reference to the public tag, and referencing, in the database, the public tag with the first record; receiving, at the database system from a second user of the database system, an indication of a second record stored in the database of the database system; receiving, at the database system from the second user, a public tag for associating the public tag with the second record, the public tag describing an attribute of the second record; determining whether the public tag is already associated with the second record; applying the public tag to the second record only in response to a determination that the public tag is not already associated with the second record, such that only a single instance of the public tag is associated, in the database, with the second record, by: determining that the public tag is not already associated with the second record by determining that the second record does not already have a reference to the public tag, and referencing, in the database, the public tag with the second record; providing, by the database system, a permission to view the public tag to a subset of additional users of the database system; receiving at least one search term from one of the additional users to search for records stored in the database; performing, by the database system, a search of public tags stored in the database using the at least one search term, including determining that the at least one search term matches the public tag; and identifying the first record and the second record to the one of the additional users, in response to determining that the at least one search term matches the public tag.