by Lily S

Created on: January 28, 2009

Many internet readers use social bookmarking sites to find interesting content that they wouldn't normally come across, and many writers and other content providers use social bookmarking sites to ensure their material reaches a wider audience. There is a tension between the two groups as they need each other. However, if you are a content producer, remember to be very careful not to spam sites but to use them in a regular manner, submitting a wide variety of interesting material that isn't necessarily your own, and reading and commenting on other people's submissions.

Social bookmarking was pioneered by Digg.com, which was quickly rivalled by Reddit.com. As most people are already familiar with these two sites, I am going to concentrate on the lesser known bookmarking sites that readers may wish to try. Here is a list of sites I use:

1. Newsvine This is my favourite site, mainly because it is more grown up and less clique-like than Digg or Reddit and because they share revenue with members. Like most bookmarking sites, they allow you to post links to interesting material you have read. They also allow you to write original articles on the site and to set up polls, which makes this site ideal for those who like writing about politics and current affairs. Some of the original articles feed into the MSNBC site, and some Newsviners have broken important stories. The Newsvine crowd feel they are citizen journalists, and the best way to get accepted by the site is to write original Newsvine articles as well as posting links.

2. Stumbleupon To use Stumbleupon, you have to download a toolbar, which allows you to surf from article to article by pressing the stumble button. Over time, their software works out what type of articles you like based on what you are voting up and down, and tries to ensure that you only get to see stuff you are interested in. It's different from the usual bookmarking site in that there is less herd behaviour because you can't see what other readers are choosing to look at. You can stumble your own articles, but be very careful about this - their software has been upgraded to detect those who are abusing the system and if they think you are a spammer, they simply downgrade you so that the articles you "discover" arn't passed on to other readers. As with other sites, use it normally to discover interesting content, and only submit your own stuff occasionally, and when you do, make sure it's submitted amongst other material.

3. Mixx Mixx is more of a traditional social bookmarking site, in that you submit links, and vote things up or down. In their terms of service they say "Let's try to keep the self-submitting to a minimum. Every once in a while is OK, but to be a good member of the community, you need to submit content from a variety of sources. Think of this as a dinner party with scintillating conversation; does anyone actually like the person who keeps interrupting and only talks of themselves? No, because that isn't actually "conversation."" Which sums things up pretty well!

4. PostonFire This was originally meant to be a social bookmarking site for bloggers and readers of blogs, but it has morphed to include anything interesting from youtube clips to mainstream press articles. They don't mind people submitting their own stuff as long as they participate fully in the site and read other people's submissions.

5. Propeller Propeller is owned by AOL. It's a vast site with all sorts of sub categories. I usually find it hard to get traffic from links submitted to this site - but it's worth submitting anyway, as the search engines index material submitted very quickly.

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