See del.icio.us, Digg, and BlinkList. This is social bookmarking. I don’t get it.
What I do get: The idea. If everyone shares and tags their bookmarks, people theoretically benefit by being exposed to new sites (ideas, thoughts, presentations) related to their interests. It also allows the user’s bookmarks to be accessed from any location with internet connectivity.
What I don’t get: The reward. It takes at least two major things to adopt social bookmarking as an end user. First, it takes a commitment to store your bookmarks off of your local PC. This is an interface change for something getting constant daily use. That’s massively significant. Second, it takes time. Time to file bookmarks to the new interface and time to place appropriate tags on the bookmarks.
To date, I have poked around at del.icio.us, in lurker mode and used it as a way, when I am pointedly surfing and not trying to be productive, to keep up on some fresh ideas from the last day or so. What’s Hot, as it were.
Perhaps I am not embracing the future. Perhaps it’s just not for me and will last. Perhaps this is another neat webism that people will dump a bunch of time into before it dies off.
Someone enlighten me? Why is this compelling to the point that it is worth committing to?
