Do you use Wakelet for bookmarking? Find out how social bookmarking platforms can help you save, organize and share content from across the web better than ever before
Are you a fan of social bookmarking? You might not think so at first but you’d be surprised! If you’ve ever sent a friend the link to a viral YouTube video or shared an interesting article with your aunt, you’re a social bookmarker.
What is bookmarking?
When you’re browsing the web and come across something you want to save, what do you do? You can’t exactly add a Post-it Note or turn the corner of the page. If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely add it to your browser bookmarks first. And simply put, that’s what bookmarking is, a way for people to store, organize and manage links online.
Social bookmarking takes things to the next level. With a platform like Wakelet, instead of saving links to your web browser, you can save them to the web. That way, they’re easier to organize and easier to share.
And a collection of bookmarks on Wakelet is much more than just a list of links. Instead, you’re able to see the content of every link without having to click-through and you can personalize and add context to the items you’ve saved by adding images, notes, videos and music. Plus, it works cross-device, so you can bookmark a link on your desktop and it’ll appear on your phone app automatically.
Your Wakelet profile is your space; a place where you can easily keep track of the things you love, like, or just don’t want to forget. You can keep it private or make it public to help people discover the things you’re passionate about too.
How has social bookmarking been used?
The great thing about Wakelet and other social bookmarking sites is that your collections can also help others. Making them public means that anyone searching for similar themes and topics can benefit from your research, especially if you’re responsible for a company or organisation. Libraries are just one industry that has embraced social bookmarking as a way of collating and sharing informative links for their patrons – check out how Leeds Beckett University Library is using Wakelet here.
Many educators have also become social bookmarkers. Wakelet is perfect for collating links for research projects, encouraging collaboration between students, allowing critical annotation, and for teachers looking to share resources in a more engaging, interactive way than just providing a list of links. Take a look at how the University of Salford’s Sport Rehab course uses Wakelet here.
How can social bookmarking help me?
Whether you’re someone searching for information online or a blogger looking to get your content out there, social bookmarking can help.
When you’re searching online, Wakelet makes finding information on the subjects you’re interested in quicker and easier. Simply enter a keyword or topic into the search bar and you’ll be presented with collections of bookmarks on almost every subject imaginable.
And unlike searching on a traditional search engine, Wakelet’s collections have been curated by people who are able to add context in a way that algorithms can’t. The bookmarked collections feature links that have been carefully chosen, whether it’s to tell a contextual story or because they represent the very best content on a particular subject. It helps you narrow your search quickly, serving you relevant content rather than forcing you to search through pages of results for a needle in a haystack.
If you’re a blogger, every time your article is added to someone’s Wakelet collection, it becomes easier for others to find and share. Plus, people who reach your blog from a social bookmarking site will generally find it because your website appeared in a search for topics they’re genuinely interested in, meaning they’ll be a highly-engaged audience. And the more high-quality readers that see your content, the better!