diff --git a/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb b/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
index 25aa1f3bb5fb470f21cd9318578b784b1afa5909..f2b97ac6b5d03995fd00216d699e693ec6b882d5 100644
--- a/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,15 @@ class ProfilesController < ApplicationController
   def update
     # upload and set new profile photo
     params[:profile] ||= {}
-    params[:tags] << params[:profile][:tag_string] unless params[:profile][:tag_string].nil?
+    unless params[:profile][:tag_string].nil?
+      params[:profile][:tag_string].split( " " ).each do |extra_tag|
+        extra_tag.strip!
+        unless extra_tag == ""
+          extra_tag = "##{extra_tag}" unless extra_tag.start_with?( "#" )
+          params[:tags] += ",##{extra_tag}"
+        end
+      end
+    end
     params[:profile][:tag_string] = (params[:tags]) ? params[:tags].gsub(',',' ') : ""
     params[:profile][:searchable] ||= false
     params[:profile][:photo] = Photo.where(:author_id => current_user.person.id,