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What is Social Bookmarking?

In the earlier days of the Internet, if you saw a website that really excited you, how would you go about telling your online friends about it? If you couldn?t talk to them over the telephone, you would have to email them or send them a link via a chat room.

Well, now there is a new alternative... social bookmarking. Social bookmarking is a concept where users ?tag? sites of interest. After that happens, these tags show up in two places: the user?s profile, (which looks like a mini-site to other users), and the homepage of the bookmarking network. The latter will display the tag temporarily, before it gets displaced by newer ones.

Anyway, once a tag is entered into the bookmarking network, other users are free to rate it. URLs with higher ratings gain more prominence in a social network. In turn, those with lesser ratings tend to lose presence. And, if a tag is considered to be spam, it will be forever banned from the network.

So, what potential does social bookmarking have for Internet users? Well, most of these networks have an interactive ?Web 2.0? quality. Sure, you?re tagging websites, but you?re also interacting with a community.

In fact, thanks to the way in which bookmarking works, many people could avoid wasting money on ineffective products or even worse, online job scams. If they are unsure about the legitimacy of a site, they can see if it has been tagged before within a social network. If it has, chances are you can get an idea of what others think about it before risking your own money.

Social bookmarking can also be useful for Internet marketers. After they have uploaded their site onto the Web, they can let people know about it by creating their own bookmark. If the website is worthwhile, other users will give it a good rating. This gives you some pagerank, even if it is on a smaller scale. Plus, it?s an excellent source for free traffic.

In conclusion, social bookmarking is an interesting concept for people who want to combine their love of surfing with online communication. Through these networks, you can learn about new sites or tag your own sites while getting a chance to meet new people. Indeed, it?s a simple concept, yet it offers extraordinary value both in terms of practicality and entertainment.

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Blake Evans is a writer for InlineSEO.com, a site created to help businesses build web traffic through search engine optimization strategies. Review SEO optimization tips in free, online video tutorials. Discover basic through advanced SEO topics at www.InlineSEO.com

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