Postcards from the Funny Farm

This article is for the newbie curious about this web 2.0 phenomenon. Above are links to just some of the many social bookmark and user-driven search engines on the market today. A few months back I wrote an article about the blogging phenomena as I saw it. A week or so after writing it, I shared with my sister-in-law that I thought digg.com might be worth looking into to market and find blogs. I set out on a quest to discover more. Here is what I found:

There are two types of “social bookmarks:” 1) Bookmark servers that let you share your favorites and 2) Rating sites where users grade sites. There are MANY sites and toolbars out there like these. They are officially called “Social bookmarking sites. I thought I’d share the 4 that I have come to like and use in my cyber-travels. Those sites are:

de.licio.us is a bookmarking site that allows you to store sites you like in a database. That database becomes searchable and combines with the ratings of every other user. This is one of the most widely used ones. Firefox browser has a plugin that integrates bookmarking on delicious with the browser. This is the first place I bookmark to by clicking the toolbar bookmarklet I got through the delicious website.

reddit is a rating system where the user gives pages a thumbs up or down. It is a great place to do seraches on blog subjects of interest. They also have a toolbar you can install. I find the serach engine-like interface easy to understand. Some of these sites get very complicated imho.

This one’s my favorite. digg.com is the best way to both find good blog articles and also to get your blog read. Every serious blogger needs to learn and understand digg.com In my opinion, it is just as fundamental to blogging as Technorati, which most bloggers learn about early on.

I’ve written on stumbleupon in other posts. This is like a myspace for bloggers, a great place to get involved in groups and communities with your blog. If you try it out, please stop by my space and write a blog review.

A site that integrates all of them is called “Socializer.” I recommend you get the toolbar link to “Socialize” sites to a number of different bookmark servers with one click. You can see what I mean here.

I’m still learning about the droves of services out there . . . for free nonetheless! I hope my brief overview of the 4 I like and use helps a few out there wade through the maze! It’s very addictive, in a positive way. Enjoy.

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