Social Bookmarking Site Etiquette

What is the most annoying thing that has happened to you when using a social bookmarking site? It could be any number of things. These sites are terrific for sharing information and promoting online writing. However, the sites are only as good as the people who use them. When people use bad etiquette on these sites, it gets annoying. Folks who annoy others on the sites end up doing their own reputations more harm than good. Make sure that you aren’t one of those people with bad manners when it comes to online bookmarking.

The biggest social bookmarking site rule that people tend to break is the unspoken rule that you should only post links to high quality content. There are so many boring, badly written, spam-rich articles online. None of us wants to read more of those. When people post links to these types of articles on a bookmarking site, they alienate themselves from other site users. Instead you should only post links to high quality content that other people are going to read. Let’s face it; not all of the articles you write are going to be high caliber. Sometimes you write blog updates or informative niche articles that aren’t widely interesting to a general public. Don’t post those links on an online bookmarking site. Save your sharing for the articles that are actually worth sharing.

Another mistake that people often make on these sites is to only promote their own work. It is considered especially rude if you’re only sharing links from a single website or blog. After all, if people wanted to read all of the articles from a single blog then they would simply follow the RSS feed for that blog. It’s redundant and annoying to post those links again and again on your social sharing sites without adding additional content. Social sites are all about sharing and supporting other people’s work. You should make it a habit to bookmark other people’s writing at least as much as (or even more than) you bookmark your own. Of course, you’ll want to bookmark articles of interest that are relevant to the types of things that you write about but you should include articles from a diverse range of different sources.

Speaking of topic areas of interest, it is important to make sure that you categorize and tag your links properly when bookmarking them. When you check out a social bookmarking site, you want to easily be able to see links that are relevant to the topic that you’re looking to learn more about. You don’t want to head to a section on finance only to find information about relationships, celebrities and other unrelated topics. It’s considered rude to improperly tag or categorize your links in this way so make sure that you are paying attention to these details when sharing links. Consider this same point when using niche social sites that are designed only for bookmarking very specific topics.

Finally, pay attention to the etiquette that you use when interacting with others on a bookmarking site. Whenever you decide to add or follow a new person on the site, it is proper etiquette to send that person an email or message introducing yourself. If you vote an article down or leave a negative comment on it then it is proper etiquette to let the person who shared it know why you feel that way and what they could do differently the next time. When someone comments negatively on something that you’ve shared, take the high road instead of lashing out at him. In other words, when using a social bookmarking site you should use the same common sense and etiquette that you would use when interacting with someone in person. Don’t be rude!