Social bookmarking and curation is an online website in which registered users can add, annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web pages and online documents. People join and participate in these networks in order to discover, save, share, and discuss trending online content and media.
Content curation sites are a form of bookmarking in which users share articles and textual content.
Web browsers include a feature that allows users to bookmark web pages that they may want to revisit. Social bookmarking is named for this feature, in that it allows users to save such pages on the Internet for future use, as well as to share them with a friend, with a group, or display them as a public recommendation.
Most bookmarking sites will allow users to categorize web pages, images, videos, and audio files that they have bookmarked through the use of tags. The tags of an individual user are then compiled together to create a searchable classification system known as a folksonomy.
Most bookmarking sites allow users to vote on content bookmarked by other users, to comment on them, or to re-share the web documents.
Other names for social bookmarking include collaborative tagging, folksonomy, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging.
There are several advantages to the system, one of them being its most obvious purpose. People often revisit the same sites on the Internet and bookmarking allows them to easily locate these sites, with no need to memorize the domain name or URL. When a page is saved on an online bookmarking site, it can be easily accessed regardless of which computer the user is on. Sharing bookmarks with other users helps all parties to discover new content on subjects they have an interest in.
Of course, these networks can also be effective in driving brand awareness, search engine optimization, and web traffic. Being listed on social bookmarking sites can drive targeted traffic to a website, and search engines often index the pages of these sites. Additionally, since they serve as recommendations, being tagged on one network can lead to people tagging a site on other networks.
Some social bookmarking sites are free, while others charge a premium.
Recommended Resources
Owned by the University of Kassel, University of Wurzburg, and the University of Hanover, BibSonomy is a social bookmarking and publication sharing system that combines the features of bookmarking systems with team-oriented publication management. Registered users can create collections of bookmarks and publications, which may be used to create bibliographies, to collaborate with fellow students or groups, and to discover new publications from other users.
https://www.bibsonomy.org/
In service since 2006, Diigo is a social bookmarking site in which registered users can bookmark and tag web pages, including highlighting any part of a webpage using sticky notes or pointing to the whole page. User annotations can be private, shared with a group within Diigo, or forwarded to another member. Premium account members are able to perform full-text searches of cached copies of bookmarks, page URLs, tags, and annotations.
https://www.diigo.com/
Offering free and premium memberships, Folkd allows users to save their favorite links and bookmarks online, where they can be accessed from any computer. Other features include the ability to vote up links, search the most popular links, recommend sites to friends, connect to other users in order to follow their links, and post links to increase reputation rankings. Collections can be organized by tags, and may be kept private or made public, with additional features for premium members.
http://www.folkd.com/
Mix is a social media network and bookmarking site that encourages members to share collections of news articles and other web resources they have found, to follow other members, exchange collections, comment on those shared by others, and to take part in community discussions. Apps are available for iOS and Android devices. In order to create an account, users must have either a Google, Facebook, or Twitter account, which is used to sign on. Its guidelines and support services are featured.
https://mix.com/
The collaborative curation tool allows users to organize, explore, and share URLs that they find online, as well as uploading personal photos, notes, and files. A visual interface lets users organize collected URLs and other digital objects by dragging them into collections and sub-collections. A social-collaborative curation feature is also available, the idea being to democratize the organization of knowledge. A free version, an educational version, and a premium version are available.
https://www.pearltrees.com/
Pinboard was designed to have a plain design and a focus on the personal management of bookmarks, using tags, similar to how early versions of the Delicious social bookmarking site accomplished it. Available in English, French, German, Japanese, Polish, and Russian, the site charges an annual fee for access, plus another fee for those who wish to maintain a personal web archive. Its terms of service, privacy policies, security measures, and a blog are included.
http://pinboard.in/
Founded in 2007, Pocket allows users to save articles, videos, and other web content for later referral. Once saved to Pocket, the contents may be accessed from any device, including any kind of computer, tablets, or smartphone, the only requirement being an Internet connection and a login. Apps are available from the Apple App Store, Google Play, the Mac App Store, or Amazon. An ad-free premium version is available, paid monthly or annually.
https://getpocket.com/
The free, open-source, bookmark manager is available in more than twenty languages. Licensed under the GNU General Public License, SiteBar allows users to store bookmarks on a private or public SiteBar server, to access them online, and to share them with multiple user groups. Sidebar integration into web browsers is also available Firefox and Chrome, as is the importation of bookmarks from web browsers. Instructions and a screenshot tour are available.
http://sitebar.org/
Created in 2005, StartAid is a social bookmarking site that allows registered members to create custom homepages where they can have all of their favorite sites and links immediately available. The site supports categorization and tagging filing systems, along with an Ajax interface for ease in bookmark management. A demo log-in is available, along with its terms of use, and a discussion forum where users can share favorites with friends and post comments about added sites.
http://www.startaid.com/
