Social Bookmarking Sites - The Search Engine of the People

Social bookmarking sites, in a way, can be viewed as search engines with a human touch. These sites are designed for members to search for information that they can categorize, share and store. Bookmarking sites are similar to search engines insofar as using information searches as their primary objective however the similarities stop there. By introducing the opportunity for socially interacting with other members these sites begin to take on the same tendencies as social networking sites.

Why is it that there is a need for bookmarking sites when search engines are quite able to fill the task of bringing people and information together? What makes these sites so popular?

Here are the 3 unique qualities that differentiate online bookmarking sites from search engines concerning information searches.

Information Accessibility

Within their own social networking community most all bookmarking sites encourage the sharing of information amongst their members. In this way these sites are very much like an online book club. If any content is updated it is immediately shared with others via an RSS feed.

Delivery

As opposed to going online and 'digging' for information through a series of searches using search engines social bookmark sites make information easy to find. By using either keywords or tags, which describe the content, members can locate what they are looking for in a much faster manner. Since bookmarks are 'stored' at the site search results are returned very quickly.

Ranking Criteria

Search engines rely upon impersonal data like page rank and SEO to rank their information. Bookmarking sites on the other hand rank information based upon popularity. Site members view and rate the information they see thereby giving the rating system a more subjective point of view than search engines are able to do.

In addition members can view the bookmarks of others and leave comments and/or opinions about the content they viewed. This helps to encourage interaction amongst the members giving the site more of a social networking community feel which is another reason these sites are so popular.

Using social bookmarking sites as a means of collecting and storing information online has grown in both significance and popularity. The 3 qualities we discussed above help differentiate this means of locating information on the internet from the more 'traditional' search engines. Allowing members the opportunity to share, discuss and rate this information makes the ranking process all the more creditable and appealing. In the end these sites are just further evidence that the internet continues to evolve more towards social networking sites. For the time being it seems obvious that users approve of the direction in which this evolution is headed.