Social Bookmarking
Social
bookmarking sites
let you share
your Internet bookmarks (e.g., your favorite web-sites, blogs, and articles)
through a website. Users can access these bookmarks from any computer and
discover new sites by searching popular bookmarks and tags. Some of the most
popular social bookmarking sites are del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, Blue Dot,
Stumble-Upon, Simpy and Furl.
del.icio.us
del.icio.us, a self-described “collection of
favorites,” reported its two-millionth
user regis-tration in March 2007.102
Users can add a bookmark by going to the site or by using the del.icio.us downloadable browser buttons. Some
sites post clickable badges—a button provided by del.icio.us to “save this
page”—that make it easy for users to bookmark the site using del.icio.us.
del.icio.us is a great example of a Web 2.0
company that uses tagging, social net-working and user-generated content. When
bookmarking a website, users can add notes and tags to describe the site. These
tags are searchable and help organize sites, making it easier for users to find
the content they want based on what other users have recommended (by
bookmarking). Users can also add descriptions to tags, which can help clear up
what a certain tag might mean to different people. Thus, searching for content
on del.icio.us is based on collaborative filtering rather than search engine
algorithms. The site also offers a fully searchable podcasting section.
Third parties can use the del.icio.us web
services API to build tools and incorporate social bookmarking functionality into
their applications (see Section 3.13, Web Services, Mashups, Widgets and
Gadgets). For example, Adobe Illustrator uses the del.icio.us tech-nology to
organize bookmarks in the program’s documentation.
Ma.gnolia
“If searching was the first day of the web,
people helping each other find what they want must be the second.”
—Ma.gnolia
Ma.gnolia is
another
social bookmarking site offering tagging and convenient bookmark accessibility
through the site. Bookmarked pages are saved (when possible) so users need not
worry about losing content if a page goes offline. The site also provides
browser but-tons (bookmarklets) for posting sites to Ma.gnolia, and a “roots”
feature, which lets you see what other users have said about a site while
surfing the Internet. Ma.gnolia encourages social networking through user
groups and a private messaging feature. To deal with spam, Ma.gnolia trusts
handpicked moderators, called “gardeners.”
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