The Bookmark Realm

Who knew bookmarks would become business tools?

As a writer, I have always recognized the need for unique and interesting content. In the newspaper industry, it is a daily task of brainstorming to find that human interest story or procure a great op-ed. With the internet, it is gain interest--gain followers, and it is instant. Instead of optimizing a published paper for a specific region or niche, it is SEO. It is the digital space.

There is something to be very excited about here.

And I am excited. I bookmark everything I find interesting online. I am personally guilty of accumulating a gazillion bookmarks online (always have been) and spending copious amounts of time organizing my bookmark folders. I am behind when it comes to bookmarks. I signed up for Digg in January and have yet to use it.

I read a recent blog entry by "Conversation Agent" Valerie Maltoni (ConversationAgent.com) called "How to Use Delicious for Content Ideas". Now, I don't personally need content ideas, simply because I am interested in a huge range of topics/tags. However, this post is directed toward businesses who want to be in the digital spaces, but find it difficult to consistently post intriguing content geared toward a specific subject.

Tagging is the crucial part of how Delicious and Digg work. Tagging is also how SEO works. There are so many Web 2.0 applications out there--some worth signing up for, some not--but, think of all the content out there as well. Utilizing Delicious or Digg or bookmarking technologies is a brilliant idea when you are in charge of a company's social space (ie in charge of raking through the muck to find status-worthy articles, etc.).

Through bookmarking, you can also begin to understand SEO at a basic level. Some have called bookmarking sites the new search engines. At Delicious.com you can see how writing unique content and utilizing tags and keywords can translate into popularity and exposure, or "Optimization" for your content.

For PR professionals, it is a way to1) track what is said about your company 2) research news outlets and 3) find new venues for news.

Finally, the incredible community aspect of the Web is that I took what one person blogged about and commented on it extensively in this space. In return, I give her a link and exposure. Why? Because her blog made me think. It was interesting. And now it will rise in the ranks of search engines and bookmarks.

I have admittedly been behind on the bookmarking 2.0 tools. Personally, I find it difficult to sign up and continue to use zillions of utilities. But, c'mon, browser bookmark folders are just too overwhelming.