Systems and methods are presented for populating content item metadata are described herein. The system receives a content item. The system then receives at the user device selections of identifier tags that are indicative of the source or context of the content item. The system updates at the server the content item along with the metadata and stores it for retrieval. In response to the user device receiving a second content item determined to be the same as the first content item, the system replaces the second content item with a link to the first content item. Once a user interaction with the link is detected, the system may follow the link to generate for display the content item.