26 February 2008

Bookmarking and the Web (Web 2.0, that is)

Back when I was a kid, bookmarking meant grabbing a scrap of paper and sticking it in your book to mark your place. And if you were talking about the web, you must have found a spider somewhere--unless you were in the midst of reading E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Things were much simpler then.

Now, of course, these words have much different meanings, don't they? Especially for those of us who enjoy the internet.

Take bookmarking, for instance. Bookmarking has developed into a social activity, part of what people call the Web 2.0. The internet acts as a platform, kind of as a hub for all kinds of interconnections between various web-based applications--this is the Web 2.0. And one great site for this social bookmarking is called Tagza.

How does Tagza work? Basically, people register for the site and submit links--this is social bookmarking. Then, users on the site click on these links and vote for them. The more the Tagza users like your submitted bookmarks, the more votes you get...and, therefore, the more visitors to your website or blog you get.

Tagza is a good place for people to find new and interesting links, because different bookmarks are being posted all the time. But, it is also a potential lucrative source of traffic for bloggers and webmasters who submit links from their sites. Bloggers can also add a Tagza widget to their site (see mine on my left sidebar--it's a little square icon). This is social bookmarking at its best.

Why am I writing this? Well, as a blogger, social bookmarking is a big part of what I do right now...I wish I instantly had a reader base of a million people, but I don't--so, I have to do what I can to try to get people to come here and see how wonderful my blog is. Now, once everyone realizes how great this blog is, maybe I won't have to any more blog promotion.

Or--maybe I can bribe my kids to do it for me? Hmmm...that might be an idea...

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