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Exploring Social Bookmarking Scene - By Vanessa A. Doctor

May 29

Written by: profitimo
Thursday, May 29, 2008

The majority of Web users nowadays are familiar with the term bookmarking -- formally known as social bookmarking. Every time you save a Web Site to your list of favorites, with the intent of visiting it again in the future, you are actually bookmarking it.

Without even knowing it, you have become one of the millions of contributors of the social bookmarking scene. The expansion and strengthening of social networks is all thanks to Web users like you. That's why, it's only right for you to know the basics of this systematic, Web-based activity. With that being said, one of the most practical knowledge you can gain from the vast information about the topic is the "pros and cons" of bookmarking.

The Advantages:

With reference to the creation of a first-rate search engine, the social bookmarking scheme has a number of advantages over the conventional automated classification and resource location software, such as Web crawlers. Humans, who recognize the content and relevance of the resource, perform every tag-based sorting of Web resources in social bookmarking, as opposed to software applications that algorithmically make an effort to ascertain the worth of a resource.

In addition, people have a tendency to come across and bookmark Web sites that have yet to be indexed or detected by Web crawlers. The system can also sort resources based on the number of times they've been tagged, which is perhaps a more practical metric for Web users than software programs that rank a Web page according to the quantity of external links that point to it.

For end-users, social bookmarking can be a nifty way to gain access to a unified set of bookmarks from numerous computers, share tagged Web sites with various contacts, and sort out a hefty number of bookmarks. Many libraries have also found this scheme to be a practical and trouble-free method of providing lists of informative links to clients.

The Downside

When viewed from the perspective of search data, there are several disadvantages to such tag-based classification. For instance, no criteria have been established for the makeup of such bookmarks. Erroneous and ambiguous tagging due to confusions in spelling is also a chronic problem, as well as the lack of means for end-users to designate hierarchical connections between tags.

The scheme is also vulnerable to collusion and corruption. Because of its current popularity, some Internet users have even started perceiving it as an instrument to utilize in conjunction with SEO (search engine optimization), so as to boost their Web sites' visibility. The more frequently a page is bookmarked, the better opportunity it has of being noticed and visited.

Sadly, spammers have recognized the potentials of social bookmarking. They either tag a single Web page numerous times or bookmark every page of their Web site using various popular tags. As a result, Web developers are forced to persistently fine-tune their security system in an attempt to overpower exploitation.

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