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Social Bookmarking is a term thrown around by online marketing companies or social media companies to clients, but what does it actually mean? Yes, it sounds pretty good, when said in an enthusiastic tone, but when you stop and think about it, it doesn’t really explain an awful lot.  It’s rather like some comedians…you either get it, or you don’t!

Look no further, i will turn your thoughts into a language everyone understands.  Peter Kay language! You’re probably thinking, what on Earth…but stick with me…may you be shown the light through the tunnel of confusion and directed off “The Road To Nowhere.” (“Now, we’ve started, now we’ve started!”)

1. What is it?

Now the term ‘bookmarking’ is commonly used as a way of saving or tagging a web page so that you can quickly access it again.  Well ‘social bookmarking‘ isn’t much different.  It can be defined as:

“the practice of saving ‘bookmarks’ to a public web page and ‘tagging’ them with keywords.”

These bookmarks are uploaded or shared onto social media sites so that other users can view them as well.  Users can create a collection of these bookmarks, just by signing up to these social media sites, such as Digg, Delicious, Stumbledupon and Mixx to name a few.

Users often log on, read these articles or bookmarks and often reference them on their own blogs or websites.

2. Who Is Doing It?

Everyone is doing it, that is because Anyone can do it.  The question is, if you aren’t doing it, why not?  From online marketers, to university students, social media has become the realm of all information.  Whether its gossip you’re looking for, factual information or even a ‘How To’ guide, there is something for everyone.  In a nutshell, there are users looking for useful information, and there are other users looking to share it with you.

3. How Does It Work?

The creators or the writers of these bookmarks assign ‘tags’ and categories to their articles (just like I do with this blog post…you see at the bottom…tagged keywords!) to make searching for information easier for the user.  Instead of crawling through pages and pages of content, searching by keywords or categories makes things so much easier.  Not only that, but each bookmark provides access to other bookmarks by that particular writer that you may find interesting.

Searching via Twitter can help as well.  Often users of the social media sites post their bookmark names with links on Twitter.  This can make it easier for you to follow the people you want to follow, and read what interests you most.  This is especially useful if you are searching for information or users in your business industry.

4. Why Is It Significant?

The significance of this is that it is very easy to tune into, what I call, ‘tunnel vision’.  By that I mean that, you may not be aware of other perspectives, and the social media network can help you broaden your horizons and see a new light.

The social media network is becoming rapidly the greatest source of education.  The World Wide Web can provide you with all the information you need about anything, it’s just a case of picking it out.  So learning more about different industries is all at the touch of a mouse…and a few buttons as well then.

These significances are responsible for users signing up in the first place, but also returning once they have signed up.  This keeps information current, active and engaging.  Everything you need for a good browse on ‘t’internet’!

5. What Are The Downsides?

So all that seems well and good, but to put a bit of a black cloud over it, it’s all just a bit amateurish way of informing the world of your expertise.  There’s no right or wrong way of ‘tagging’ or categorising something, which can make searching quite ambiguous and as a result leading to inconsistency.  Also, with all these different points of view flying around, how can you be sure what your reading is true or not…in fact, thinking about it, how do you guys know I’m not just feeding you a load of codswallop…you don’t…but I can assure you I’m not…or am I…you see, you have no idea…sorry guys, but, “it’s spitting, everybody in!”

6. Where Is All This Going…Tenerife?!

Once you have put your foot through the door of the social media gateway, after taking a deep breath, you will find it’s not a difficult concept to grasp really.  Anyone can do it.  As I mentioned last time, times are changing, sources of information are expanding and new systems and new resources are being developed as a innovative method of managing information.

So what’s it going to be?  Are you one of those people that thinks, the old ones are the best, like some of the classic Peter Kay jokes I’ve managed to slip in? Or are you willing to dive in and give it ago…be innovative, creative, find something new because, “I tell you this for free,” (well I’m not going to charge you) just like garlic bread was…”It’s the future!”…(sorry I couldn’t resist!)