Explains what social bookmarking(SB) is and it's uses. The newbie can grasp an simple understanding of SB and the more experienced user will discover some options perhaps not considered in submitting bookmarks.
In social bookmarking a person stores lists of internet resources that they find useful. They are often on a particular network where people with similar interests can view the lists and add their own lists. Social bookmarking sites are also a way for those who work in a particular field to network and share information with each other.
There is no single way of engaging in social bookmarking. Resources are often categorized by a user defined keyword or tag. Keywords and tags are essential if you want internet search engines to pick up and rank your work or site. Most sites have a facility whereby users can search for resources through the use of a particular tag – the resources are then ranked by the number of users who have bookmarked them. Social bookmarking sites will also search for related keywords and clustered keywords. This makes a users search for a particular resource easier – it also gives them access to resources similar to the one they were already looking for.
Social bookmarking sites are becoming so popular that most of them are no longer restricted to the simple sharing of resources. Users have the ability to rate and comment on resources that they have found. They can also import and export resources to and from the site. Some sites give users the option to write notes on the resources and review them there are also groups and forums that enable social networking. In social networking users share other information in addition to the resources they have bookmarked – these forums can also take on a purely social aspect where users can communicate with each other on various issues.
Social bookmarking has advantages over other ways of sharing resources as they are easier for many of the search engines to find. When people use social bookmarking sites such as technorati they often find that the traffic to their website goes up. When traffic increases then the site goes up in Google's ranking system. This means that when someone is looking for a resource in your area and it has been bookmarked in this way it is more likely to show up on a search. This means increased visitors to your site and in many cases an increase in revenue.
There are various solutions available to automate the process. However, you must be very careful not use any "black hat' methods at the very least to your websites that you want to keep around for a while. There is Tag Automator and Sean Wu's application. Both of these are using a back door. There are also scripts out there that can help you sign-up and submit in a semi-automated fashion, where you are actually coming in through the "front door". The best solution that I have found is SBS-Auto which is totally white hat and is an actual software. The developer has researched the phenomena for several years and is offering an education as well as the software.
