October 24th, 2008 by Michelle Moore

The original “social” web media – the shared bookmark – is still going strong in the form of sites like Delicious, Furl and Simpy, and has expanded to encompass sites that allow tag-based organization and categorization of everyone’s bookmarks. In the Web 2.0 world, bookmarking sites can play a significant role in any grass-roots marketing program. How can businesses take advantage of these bookmark sharing sites? First, let’s figure out what they do.

Del.icio.us, Granddaddy of the Modern Bookmark

Del.icio.us, now known simply as delicious.com, is the 21st century web bookmark sharing service that coined the term “social bookmark.” They also introduced a concept known as “tagging.” The key benefit of social bookmarking is the ability of the individual setting the bookmark to assign a “tag” or a form of classification, using a system of keywords chosen by that individual. The person setting the bookmark can classify the page they’re marking using tags that make sense to them or to others in their field of interest.

Why is this important? Well, first it’s the sense that the pages are being classified by the real live humans that use the page. The most important idea on that page might not be in a single word that is repeated often enough to give good keyword prominence to that term. But the site visitor who tags the page can list whatever keywords he or she thinks will make sense to them later when searching again for this resource, or to other people who may see their public list of bookmarks.

But a second key here is that the tag word doesn’t even have to be ON the page you’re marking. These social bookmarking tools allow for the public display of all your tags (if you want), or conversely, you can see lists of other sites that are classified under a specific tag by searching the social bookmarking resources. This tag system gives you a way to have your site included in these alternative listings for applicable terms that don’t necessarily make for good copy on the site.

For example, I might write an article that’s nothing but simple basic instructions about how to set up a Twitter account but I see “twitter for dummies” used all over the web so I make an effort NOT to use that phrase in my article. However, I can tag it, or my readers can tag it, using that term in the social bookmark tag field without my having to put the words in the article. Right this minute, there is only one article bookmarked using the tags “twitter” and “dummies” so my chances of being at the top a Delicious search on “twitter for dummies” is really good if I choose this option.

Besides, having links from a PR7 site can’t be all bad, can it?

October 24th, 2008 by Michelle Moore

Blogs are one of the most prolific types of web site in existence today. Everyone has a blog. Some people have more than one. I have about six. What’s all the fuss? Why is the social web phenomenon known as a “web log” (blog for short) important to business?