This paper reviews some current initiatives, as of early 2005, in providing
public link management applications on the Web – utilities that are often
referred to under the general moniker of 'social bookmarking tools'. There are a
couple of things going on here: 1) server-side software aimed specifically at
managing links with, crucially, a strong, social networking flavour, and 2) an
unabashedly open and unstructured approach to tagging, or user classification,
of those links.

• Create a wish list: "Go to any commerce site, find
what you like, save it to del.icio.us and tag it as wishlist. Then you can tell
people to check out your wishlist bookmarks by giving them a link to http://del.icio.us/username/wishlist."

• Plan a vacation: "Save links to hotels, activities,
and transportation and use tags like 'travel,' 'vacation,' and 'to-visit.'
Collaborate with friends and family by using the 'for:username' tag."

• Create a linklog: "Save bookmarks to interesting
websites and add a bit of commentary to create a lightweight linklog. Then, use
linkrolls or the daily blog posting feature to include your del.icio.us
bookmarks on your blog or website."

• Develop an online cookbook: "Whenever you find a great
recipe on a website, save it to del.icio.us. Tag it with the recipe's
ingredients or style of cooking, and then when you're wondering what to make for
dinner, you can use your saved bookmarks to help you remember the perfect
recipe."

• Podcast: "Want to hear some great podcasts? Visit the
mp3+podcast tag combination and start listening. Are you a podcaster? Start
posting your mp3 files to del.icio.us and we will create an RSS feed for
you."

• Collaborate: "Friends, coworkers, and other groups can
use a shared account, special tag, or their del.icio.us networks to collect and
organize bookmarks that are relevant--and useful--to the entire group."