Julianna
It’s no surprise that the Internet has a wealth of resources. Sometimes it’s difficult to find what you are looking for, other times it’s hard to keep track of useful things you find. While you can bookmark it in your browser, or add it to your favourites, these options are not easy to organize and they aren’t transferable to different computers. How do you catalogue all the good things you find on the Internet? Social bookmarking is the answer.
Social bookmarking allows you to save, tag and share all of the links, or Internet bookmarks, you find on the web, and social bookmarking sites are web-based, allowing you to be on any computer and bookmark what you are viewing. Perhaps most importantly, social bookmarking sites allow you to tag each link you save with keywords, to classify the link. Tags will help you find a link more easily, see related links together, and share your tagged links with others who may also be interested in your links.
How does social bookmarking work?
First, sign up for a free account on one of the many free bookmarking services such as del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, Furl or Simpy.
There are many, many, many to choose from. Mashable has tried to compile most in a roundup titled 50+ social bookmarking sites. A list like this is pretty overwhelming, but it gives you a good idea of how crowded this space is.
Del.icio.us is the granddaddy of these sites, started in 2003, and still a clear favourite. For user experience alone, I would also recommend Ma.gnolia because it is highly usable, and unlike most of the other social bookmarking sites, pretty to look at (and a favourite of designers).
Second, you can add buttons for these sites to your browser window. Click the button when you are on a site you’re interested in, and you will be able to save the link to your social bookmarking site. Some sites, like Ma.gnolia, let you add a link directly into your “home page” on their site. Here you can also tag your link with keywords to classify them for later.
Third, to view your bookmarks, login to your page on the social bookmarking site of your choice to view all of the links you have saved. Use the keywords tags you added when you saved the link to help find the relevant information you are looking for.
Social bookmarking sites are, by their nature, social which means you can also search other peoples bookmarks and they can search yours. This is a great way to find interesting sites, and it’s practically like someone else has peer-reviewed them for you.
If you would like more information and a demonstration of how social bookmarking works, you can view another great Common Craft show video explaining everything you need to know to get started using social bookmarks.