The Benefits and Value of Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is a method or technique by which internet users store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the internet with the help of tags or keywords. This method replaces the traditional method of browser-based system of folders by encouraging users to arrange their bookmarks with keywords or tags. In simple words we can explain Social Bookmarking is storing and tagging your bookmarks online and sharing them online with other internet users.

Users from all over the globe bookmark websites or specific pages using their favorite social bookmarks. They can search through their bookmarks by keywords or by tags, and can access their bookmarks. Almost all social bookmark sites have the same basic features like browser bookmarklets for one-click link saving, tags or keywords, RSS feeds.

Social bookmarks are generally public, and can be saved even privately, shared only with specified people, groups or with specific networks. Only the allowed people can view these social bookmarks successively, by tag or keywords or by category or via a search engine result pages.

How to do social bookmarking?

1.    First you have to decide which of the blog or sites you would like to use for social bookmarking.

2.    Then the Next step is you have to go to the website and register yourself and then install the shortcut buttons on your toolbar.

3.    If you visit a website that you want to save a particular web page, then you have click on a "tag" button. A dialog box pops up with the URL and page name and some optional fields for you to add notes and keywords or tag.

4.    An additional button takes you directly to your saved bookmarks and related tags or keywords. If you click on one of the keyword or tags you created, you'll be taken to a page listing your saved pages associated with that tag

5.    You can also view all other users' content related with that tag or the most popular bookmarks. The website inbox feature lets you subscribe to content saved by a specific user or saved with a specific tag or a combination of the both.

Social bookmark sites allow other users to see your bookmarks and comment on them, this is the way to create interactivity among bookmark users. People are always searching for information, and search is probably the most important application on the web for surfers to find what they are looking for. And you know that major search engines give more relevancies to sites that have been recently modified or have added new content. This is where social bookmarks are one step ahead, notifying users when a site has been updated through the use of the RSS feeds. Instead of going into a search engine, typing something in, you can quickly narrow down the items to what you are looking for by searching the keywords or tags. You can even search through what other people have bookmarked as long as they remain public. So, what started out as a way to send bookmarks to friends has really grown into social search engines?

Now a day’s we can see that Social technologies are here to stay, and are already growing in popularity. So Social bookmarks is one of the most important driving forces of traffic to the website or blog.