Social Bookmarking Services And Tools: The Wisdom Of Crowds T...

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The web is vast. Far too vast for anyone to have a hope of negotiating by themselves. When you start to look for information online, very often the first place you turn to are the search engines to bring home web pages that will fit what you're looking for.

Search engines, however, are not always the best of even the most efficient way of finding great online content. Anyone that has ever waded through page after page of Google results hoping that they have hit on that elusive keyword can vouch for that.

Social bookmarking brings to the equation something that search engines can't compete with - the human touch. Just as the internet has millions of pages, so it also has millions of users, and if even a fraction of those users share the sites they've found interesting, useful or just plain bizarre with each other, there is suddenly a vast resource for anyone searching the web to tap into.

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Social bookmarking continues to be one of the driving forces of this evolving web, and as we forge ahead towards the semantic web (otherwise dubbed Web 3.0) it will continue to play an important role and prove an invaluable resource for independent publishers, businesses and even casual web surfers.

Social bookmarking is all about labeling the web, making it easier to find the content that you're looking for by passing on what you've found. The labels applied to web sites are commonly known as tags, and over time a kind of taxonomy grows, whereby persistent tags help information to be aggregated and mined for information. Where a taxonomy was, however, the product of specialists carefully categorizing items within their area of specialism, social bookmarking produces instead what has been termed a folksonomy.

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Social bookmarking continues to be one of the driving forces of this evolving web, and as we forge ahead towards the semantic web (otherwise dubbed Web 3.0) it will continue to play an important role and prove an invaluable resource for independent publishers, businesses and even casual web surfers.

Social bookmarking is all about labeling the web, making it easier to find the content that you're looking for by passing on what you've found. The labels applied to web sites are commonly known as tags, and over time a kind of taxonomy grows, whereby persistent tags help information to be aggregated and mined for information. Where a taxonomy was, however, the product of specialists carefully categorizing items within their area of specialism, social bookmarking produces instead what has been termed a folksonomy.

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What sets it apart:

• del.icio.us has the kind of popularity that other social bookmarking sites dream of, which makes it a vast resource with an almost infinite amount of tagged pages to access


• It's much imitated browser embedded button makes tagging sites a very quick and painless exercise. Tagging a page is as simple as clicking a button.


• Being able to set up RSS feeds for any tag makes the aggregation of social bookmarks very easy

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Stumble Upon

URL: http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Overview: Stumble Upon's enormous popularity might be credited to its innovative - yet entirely familiar - approach to social bookmarking. The principle behind Stumble Upon is giving its users the chance to ''channel surf the internet'', which is to say it brings a powerful element of the (seemingly) random to the experience of discovering new sites, serving up sites just as a TV viewer might flick through TV channels. Behind this seemingly, refreshingly random selection however is a powerful system that taps directly into your responses to previously served content. The more you use Stumble Upon, the smarter it becomes to your tastes.

Bookmarking system: When you sign up to Stumble Upon you will be asked which categories of websites you are interesting in being served. After this, you will have a del.icio.us style button added to your browser. When you click the button it will take you to a recommended site based on your preferences. Here you can either click on a thumbs up icon to tell it you like the site, and save it to your collection, or a thumbs down icon to suggest that this was a poor selection.

A number of other features in the same toolbar at the top of your browser add to this simple premise, so that it is possible to read reviews and comments on the page you are visiting by clicking a speech bubble icon, search by tags from within your toolbar, share your page with a friend, check out your friends latest recommendations and even access a small menu to further customize your Stumble Upon experience.

What sets it apart:

• Stumble Upon brings an exciting element of the (seemingly) random to your browsing experience, but retains all of the features of a traditional del.icio.us style social bookmarking service


• The Stumble Upon toolbar is really extensive, allowing you to find and rate bookmarks in a number of different ways without having to go to the Stumble Upon homepage


• Stumble Upon learns and adapts to your tastes over time, bringing you fresh recommendations you are more likely to be interested in without having to search for yourself

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What sets it apart:

• Stumble Upon brings an exciting element of the (seemingly) random to your browsing experience, but retains all of the features of a traditional del.icio.us style social bookmarking service


• The Stumble Upon toolbar is really extensive, allowing you to find and rate bookmarks in a number of different ways without having to go to the Stumble Upon homepage


• Stumble Upon learns and adapts to your tastes over time, bringing you fresh recommendations you are more likely to be interested in without having to search for yourself

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What sets it apart:

• Blue Dot makes social bookmarking personal, making it a great tool for online collaboration, where a team might want to share private thoughts with one another about web content, rather than with the whole world


• The ability to capture images from the site which serve as a thumbnail for your bookmark entry adds a visual dimension to the bookmarking experience


• Bookmarks can be shared with single individuals, groups and sub-groups, or the whole world, which offers a granular dimension to networked sharing.

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Magnolia

URL: http://ma.gnolia.com/

Overview: Ma.gnolia focuses on online groups and the community aspect of social bookmarking, with groups focused on areas of interest sharing bookmarks with one another and the casual browser alike. Making use of a 5-star rating system, the possibility of storing private or public bookmarks and a nice feature that saves web pages so that they will always be accessible even if the site expires, Ma.gnolia has an impressive feature set and very nice design that will appeal to the visually orientated.

Bookmarking system: Ma.gnolia makes use of both browser based buttons (also known as bookmarklets) in the same style as del.icio.us, and different ways to bookmark from within the Ma.gnolia community. As Ma.gnolia is very community based, a lot of the bookmarking activity goes on via their website, in the personal exchange of bookmarks between group members. From the site it is possible to add bookmarks via a bookmarking widget, a simple menu option, or the browser based bookmarklets, which can also be used off-site.

What sets it apart:

• Ma.gnolia is perhaps the most attractively designed of the social bookmarking services


• It's emphasis on group formation and community based on interests will make it an appealing bookmarking option for those seeking to personalize the experience of bookmark trading, where many other services work on an anonymous basis


• The ability to add quick, off-the-cuff star ratings of websites is a nice way of quickly categorizing content in a universally understandable way

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What sets it apart:

• Ma.gnolia is perhaps the most attractively designed of the social bookmarking services


• It's emphasis on group formation and community based on interests will make it an appealing bookmarking option for those seeking to personalize the experience of bookmark trading, where many other services work on an anonymous basis


• The ability to add quick, off-the-cuff star ratings of websites is a nice way of quickly categorizing content in a universally understandable way

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Digg

URL: http://digg.com/

Overview: Digg is up there with del.icio.us in terms of popularity. Centered very much on its community of contributors and its web site, Digg brings a democratic element to social bookmarking. When a user "Diggs", or bookmarks, a web page or news story it is submitted to the Digg service, where users can choose to "Digg it", effectively casting a vote in its favour. The more "Diggs" a site receives, the more coverage a story or web page get, with the cream of the crop brought to the site's front page.

Bookmarking system: When a user wishes to "digg" web content, they simply enter the URL of their chosen site from their Digg user page, along with any notes, and await response from the Digg community. It is also possible to Digg sites that have added a "Digg this" widget, which is very popular with bloggers.

What sets it apart:

• Digg's focus on voting for submitted bookmarks brings a democratic process to the filtering of information


• It's emphasis on up-to-the-minute stories makes it a great place to submit and access news items and information 'hot off the press'


• Like del.icio.us the sheer size of Digg's user base makes it a valuable source of information

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What sets it apart:

• Digg's focus on voting for submitted bookmarks brings a democratic process to the filtering of information


• It's emphasis on up-to-the-minute stories makes it a great place to submit and access news items and information 'hot off the press'


• Like del.icio.us the sheer size of Digg's user base makes it a valuable source of information

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What sets it apart:

• Simpy's emphasis on being able to search within bookmarked pages text (rather than just metadata) make it a great tool for those engaged in research, whether professional or personal


• It's browser based tool set is extensive and offers a lot more options than some of the other services, especially in terms of being able to run searches on the fly


• Simpy offers a range of great web widgets aimed directly at bloggers, giving them the chance to place an attractive search box for their Simpy bookmarks (or for all Simpy bookmarks) along with other useful tools for social bookmarking bloggers.

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What sets it apart:

• The BlogSync interface makes integration with blogs easy


• It is possible to export and back up your bookmarks and sync with del.icio.us
  
• BlogSync otherwise offers a fairly standard set of features that do it little favours in a crowded and competitive marketplace

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What sets it apart:

• Reddit's combination of Digg's democratic, vote-based system and Stumble Upon's personalized, taste-based system makes for a refreshing hybrid


• Reddit features a NSFW (not safe for work) adult section of its service, which will appeal to some as another filter on the nature of the content they are searching for


• Reddit operates a karma system that places emphasis on community involvement, so will appeal to those drawn to the social dimension of social bookmarking

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What sets it apart:

• Furl's archiving of web pages, along with searchable notes makes for an interesting and well thought through approach that makes going back to that elusive page you visited earlier that day quick and easy


• Furl features an extensive range of import and export features for your bookmarks, so that browser based bookmarks can be brought in and out, as can del.icio.us, and academic citations can be exported, as well as XML and even zip files of bookmark collections


• Furl allows you to take clippings of a page when you save it, which can be used as a summary of the page for quick recognition of what the bookmark is at a later date

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Furl

URL: http://www.furl.net

Overview: Furl is a free service that saves a personal copy of any page you find on the Web, and lets you find it again instantly by searching your archive of pages. In addition to letting you find other people's saved websites, Furl recommends new web pages that might interest you.

Bookmarking system: Furl allows you to add your bookmarked page either from their website, or using their browser tool bar or bookmarklet options. Pages are saved in your personal archive, and based on your activity on the Furl site, recommendations on sites that may be of interest are served up. It is possible to search for and within other users Furl archives

What sets it apart:

• Furl's archiving of web pages, along with searchable notes makes for an interesting and well thought through approach that makes going back to that elusive page you visited earlier that day quick and easy


• Furl features an extensive range of import and export features for your bookmarks, so that browser based bookmarks can be brought in and out, as can del.icio.us, and academic citations can be exported, as well as XML and even zip files of bookmark collections


• Furl allows you to take clippings of a page when you save it, which can be used as a summary of the page for quick recognition of what the bookmark is at a later date

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What sets it apart:

• Blinklist's targeting of teachers and educators makes it an obvious choice for this group


• The ability to make useful Blinklists could prove useful in this sector, and for anyone else that wants to systematically group web pages according to a particular scheme


• The ability to set up BlinkSpaces for classroom use will make it an appealing prospect for those working in large groups or with classes of students

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What sets it apart:

• Spurl's advanced 'spurl bar' browser plug-in will run on almost any browser


• The Spurl Bar offers an extensive feature set suited to advanced social bookmarkers


• Spurl archives your bookmarked pages for later viewing

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What sets it apart:

• Primarily the main appeal of de.lirio.us is the fact that is open source and available for installation on private servers or networks


• It's very simple interface and feature set may appeal to those uninterested in the latest gimmicks


• It's almost complete lack of attention to interface design may appeal to those who... don't like good interface design

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What sets it apart:

• The ability to set up media links within bookmarks is a nice feature


• JavaScript syndication makes it very easy to get your bookmarks onto your website with a minimum of fuss


• Linkroll's basis in blogging will appeal to some

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What sets it apart:

• Without a doubt Shadows most interesting feature is that of the shadow page - a collection of metadata and users thoughts on comments on any given page on the web


• Shadows is otherwise well presented and has all of the features you would expect from a top-drawer social bookmarking site


• Shadow communities quickly form around web sites of niche content, via the shadow pages, bringing a strong element of online collaboration and group discussion to the service

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What sets it apart:

• Yahoo MyWeb will appeal to those who already subscribe to other Yahoo services, as they can login using their existing Yahoo account


• As such, the service is well integrated with Yahoo's other services, such as their Toolbar and avatars.


• MyWeb also makes it very easy to find and connect with people through their choice of tags, foregrounding the social networking element of social bookmarking

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Yahoo MyWeb

URL: http://myweb.yahoo.com/

Overview: Recently relaunched, Yahoo's effort at social bookmarking offers the usual functionality embedded in a good looking interface, integration with Yahoo's other services, and an emphasis on the social dimension of social bookmarking, making it easy to find friends with similar interests, so that every tag is closely connected to the user profile of the person that made it.

Bookmarking system: Bookmarking takes place via the Yahoo Toolbar, which integrates several of Yahoo's other services. Bookmarks can also be imported from your browser and Yahoo! bookmarks.

What sets it apart:

• Yahoo MyWeb will appeal to those who already subscribe to other Yahoo services, as they can login using their existing Yahoo account


• As such, the service is well integrated with Yahoo's other services, such as their Toolbar and avatars.


• MyWeb also makes it very easy to find and connect with people through their choice of tags, foregrounding the social networking element of social bookmarking

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Great post, although you missed some beauties:

Clipmarks - not just link marking, but clipping, and each item has a permalink so it's a true link blog, and not a link log. Plus they are heavy into comment streams.

Raw Sugar - automated tag relations, search for your blog, etc...

Netvouz - folders and tags, I really wish del.icio.us enabled folders or channels..actually clipmarks also has folders

Diigo - clipping and annotating

Trailblazer - hyperlinked annotated links

Wink - meta bookmark full text search, lists

Connotea and CiteULike - auto discover metadata, focused on journals and research

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