Web 2.0 - Part IV: Social Bookmarking

Can you remember when you were first introduced to the Internet? For me, it was 1994 at Bemidji State University. Honestly, I didn't understand why the computer science department was so excited to share this "new" resource... and why did they keep reminding us to "bookmark" websites? At that time, there were no more than 3,000 website in the world (many of those not worth looking at twice). Well, things have changed and the computer science department was much more forward thinking than I (Netcraft currently reports about 110 million websites).

Web 2.0 seems to be in that same stage of infancy, but my eyes are opening a little quicker this time around. In the last few issues of this newsletter, I shared some brief information about web 2.0, blogging, and RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This month, I'd like to introduce Social Bookmarking.

Social bookmarking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share, and search links on the Internet.
-Wikipedia.org, Feb. 4, 2007

What are some advantages of social bookmarking?

• You can access your bookmarks from any computer w/Internet connection
• Bookmarks can be shared (w/teachers, students, etc.)
• Sites can be organized with tags (categories) that make sense to you
• View bookmarks of other users who have tagged the same website

I often find more valuable content from viewing other people's bookmarks than I do using a search engine. If you've never viewed a social bookmarking site, browse my bookmarks at del.icio.us. Think you would like to give it a try? Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.