I recently started using the social bookmarking website del.icio.us and I’m beginning to thoroughly enjoy it. For those who haven’t heard of del.icio.us, it’s a web page where you can store all your ‘favourites', rather than saving them to your browser. It means that you can access your bookmarks from anywhere – without having to be on your home computer. It allows you to share them with friends, family, and other del.icio.us users. It’s a great tool for collaborating with co-workers on research projects.
Besides the benefits of access, flexibility, and collaboration, the next greatest advantage for me is that I don’t have to assign each bookmark to a folder. There are no folders. Instead I use tags (or ‘descriptive words’) and I'm able to choose which and how many tags I want to use. To make it even more simple, del.icio.us displays a list of ‘popular’ and ‘recommended’ tags I can choose from – or I can make up my own that are more relevant or meaningful to me.
del.icio.us also has a search tool, and I love having the option of using it when I know exactly what I’m looking for. My searches always turn up results comprised of my links and links (classified ‘public’) from other del.icio.us users. Generally, people bookmark sites they are especially fond of, and so the ability to share, pick, and choose sites from other people’s lists by subject category, is so efficient.
As I become better acquainted with del.icio.us I’m sure I’ll discover even more uses and benefits. You can visit my page and see my public links at http://del.icio.us/juliebudd.
For those of you who currently use del.icio.us, how do you use it, and what do you like or dislike about it?
24.7.07
11.7.07
Search marketing and your brand
"Memo to brands: fear the wiki," states Sandeep Krishnamurthy frantically. I don't agree.
Krishnamurthy's point is that when you search your brand, one of the top results is the Wikipedia entry. And Wikipedia, given its aim to be the online user-generated point of reference encyclopedia, might say something you don't want to hear about your brand. After carefully crafting your image, turn of phrase and vivid brand personality, the supposed objectivity and authority that Wikipedia exudes can "muddy" your brand's waters.
Well, yes, of course the brand waters are muddied. You might create your brand, but you don't own it. Your customers, clients and the public at large do. Say, for example, you put a lot of work into a new wordmark, colour choice, motto. But your customer service people don't stay on message when they answer the phone. What is your brand then? "Nice logo, shame about the folks on the phone." That's your brand.
Your brand's Wikipedia entry can be an excellent research tool. It can tell you what matters about your goings-on in the world. Read it, engage with it. And work on fixing what Wikipedia says is broken through a combination of pro-active communications and changes to the fundamentals.
Krishnamurthy's point is that when you search your brand, one of the top results is the Wikipedia entry. And Wikipedia, given its aim to be the online user-generated point of reference encyclopedia, might say something you don't want to hear about your brand. After carefully crafting your image, turn of phrase and vivid brand personality, the supposed objectivity and authority that Wikipedia exudes can "muddy" your brand's waters.
Well, yes, of course the brand waters are muddied. You might create your brand, but you don't own it. Your customers, clients and the public at large do. Say, for example, you put a lot of work into a new wordmark, colour choice, motto. But your customer service people don't stay on message when they answer the phone. What is your brand then? "Nice logo, shame about the folks on the phone." That's your brand.
Your brand's Wikipedia entry can be an excellent research tool. It can tell you what matters about your goings-on in the world. Read it, engage with it. And work on fixing what Wikipedia says is broken through a combination of pro-active communications and changes to the fundamentals.
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