[OA Staff Member]

So, you're probably wondering what all those cute little icons you see all over the web actually mean. Well, those are "social bookmarking" tools. Each icon links you to a social bookmarking website where you can save a copy of the article you just read.

How Does Social Bookmarking Work?

When you join a social bookmarking website, you create a profile for yourself. Then, as you stumble around the web and read articles you like, you can bookmark them to your profile (which is similar to saving something to your "favorites" on your computer). When you save it to your social bookmarking profile, you are able to "tag" the article with keywords that tell you what it's about.

Now, so far, that's just the "bookmarking" side of things. The reason it's called social bookmarking is that you can connect with other people this way. So, when you go to a social bookmarking site, you can search for articles that were bookmarked by others and tagged with keywords you're interested in. You're basically searching everyone else's favorite articles in topics that interest you. If you find someone who has bookmarked a ton of articles you really like, you can then become "friends" with them and monitor what they bookmark. It's like sharing your favorite stuff from around the web and being introduced to new stuff at the same time!

Why Use It?

Social bookmarking sites provide a number of really great benefits. How often do you print an article from the web and then lose it? And who wants all that paper floating around anyway? We're supposed to be cutting back on paper, right? Social bookmarking gives you a way to save your favorite articles without wasting precious resources and cluttering up your desk.

Social bookmarking is also better than just saving a webpage to your "favorites" on your computer. After all, when you change computers (go from home to work, or vice versa) your favorites don't go with you. If you use a social bookmarking site, you can log into your profile from anywhere and see your stuff.

It's also a great organization tool. The ability to tag an article (like the OfficeArrow keyword function) allows you to easily find what you're looking for when you need it. You also have access to thousands of other people's favorite stuff from around the web. If you've ever felt completely overwhelmed by the internet, social bookmarking will help you weed through the junk and find the real treasures.

What Now?

Does all of this sound interesting? If so, you probably want to give this social bookmarking thing a try. There are many sites for you to use but some are easier (and better) than others. Personally, I use del.icio.us. I've found it very easy and very useful. Just click on the words "get started" and the system will walk you through what you have to do. Be aware that it will prompt you to download a button for your toolbar. This button will allow you to bookmark a webpage to your profile easily and quickly from anywhere on the web.

I've used a few others as well and they all work in a similar way. Digg is a popular site that allows you to bookmark and also vote for things you like (Digg them) or don't like (Bury them). The front page of the site shows the most popular items of the day (those with the most Diggs). Digg is so popular that when a website has an article that reaches the front page, it usually gets such a huge amount of traffic it crashes before the end of the day! There are so many people reading those popular articles that the servers just die!

If you feel like jumping into the wide world of social bookmarking, check out the sites below and bookmark something on OfficeArrow today!

Digg

Del.icio.us

Stumble Upon

Reddit

Blinklist

Newsvine

Furl

Spurl

[Linda Clark]

So, are we able to bookmark the great articles I find here at OfficeArrow? Like this one?