I received 2 emails today about 2 new social bookmarking sites. First of all, what is social bookmarking?
Social bookmarking is a new trend in search engine optimization, which has gained recognition as part of a new type of website optimization, termed “social media optimization (SMO).†Social Bookmarking, also referred to sometimes as “social bookmarketingâ€, is the term used for bookmarking sites on the web and sharing them with friends. It is similar to bookmarking a site on your pc, in the “favorites†of your web browser, but to a off site server.
Why do this? One reason is that you can access your bookmarks from any computer with an Internet connection so you can get to your bookmarks when you are traveling.
Why are social bookmarking sites important? Well as I stated its good for SEO. Also, it provides a good amount of traffic and exposure to your websites. Use of bookmarking sites is a way to create links back to your websites and help generate traffic. There are numerous bookmark sites and you can set up bookmark files on as many as you want, all of which create the links back to your websites.
Well I have joined both: Sphinn and DropJack, so read what I have to say about both.
First let's take a look at Sphinn. Sphinn to me looks like its meant for the internet marketers, because their main categories are: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Search Marketing, Social Media, Online Marketing, and Searching.
Sphinn Overview:
Share News: Read a news story you want to share with others? Use the Submit Topics tab to enter the story's URL, and then your submission will appear within the New Topics area of Sphinn. If enough people "Sphinn" it, the story might move into the Hot Topics area. Submit stories that got "hot" on a regular basis, and you could appear as one of the top Sphinners. To submit, you have to become a member. It's free and easy -- takes only a few seconds and an email address.
Start Discussions: Want to talk about something relating to internet or search engine marketing? Also use the Submit Topics tag, give your topic a title and start the discussion off with your post. Others can then add their comments to what you've said, and you can respond in turn. Like news stories, new discussions show up within the New Topics area and move to the Hot Topics area if enough members Sphinn them.
Network: Looking to meet other online marketers? Sphinn makes it easy. Submit interesting stories or make important points in discussions, and people might decide to stalk you. Don't worry -- stalking's a good thing at Sphinn! It means someone's interested in following what you're doing here. You can view all your stalkers at any time (and choose to share this with the public, if you want). Find some of them interesting? Stalk them back, and that turns them into friends at Sphinn. The Network page is where you can search for people in addition to finding them through news stories and discussions.
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Now Lets take a look at DropJack.
Drop Jack OverView:
DropJack.com is a social content website powered by users like you. Anyone familiar with the popular Digg.com site will understand how DropJack works. Register as a member - submit content - vote on content. It's that simple. The more votes (jacks) a story receives, the better placement it receives on our site.
DropJack.com is a Jayde Online Network web property. Jayde (pronounced "jade") was founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1998. The company has been primarily involved in the publication of email newsletters and the development of niche and general search engines. Jayde is based in central Canada with a satellite office in San Jose, California.
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DropJack is more for any page; it is similar to Dgg as is Sphinn. Now let there are some big differences with these social bookmarking sites and similarities.
The BIG similarity is that the sign-up process is exactly the same, makes you think if it was made by the same person. The page layouts are very similar as well:
Another similarity is they both have queues. While there is a real time queue with DropJack there is an upcoming page with Sphinn. Which is wierd that there is a queue for socially bookmarking a web page.
Also these 2 new bookmarking website has room for discussions. Which is good, since we are entering Web 2.0, everyone online likes to socialize and speak their mind.
Those are the only 3 major similarities that I found with both social bookmarking websites.
The difference is DropJack will allow to bookmark the page to another social bookmark site. Which I like. It is right underneath the topic description. Sphinn do not have this feature. I think that it is a good attribute to add in, creating more exposure to more users on other bookmarking websites.
Sphinn looks like it is more for Internet Marketing and Businesses as it has specific categories for Internet Marketing Topics. DropJack seemed like it is for the majority of the internet. I think that Sphinn is good that it took an approach to just Internet Marketing and Business as it will create a community for just that specific niche.
Now, Sphinn has a javascript widget to add onto your website. As we need more of them. While DropJack is only for members that can vote on the website to increase rank within the community. Also, you can not add a button on your website, it seems that the user has to manually add the link. (I will fix this, I will add this to the Share PlugIn soon) BUT, you can add a extension on to your FireFox, and make it look like a button, similar to StumbleUpon Button on FireFox. Sphinn has this option as well, but they have a widget for you to add in.
Another BIG difference I like about Sphinn over DropJack is the fact you can add your Feed to your profile, NOT to the actual social bookmark site. You will still have to either manually submit or a user has to click on a button/widget. This is good because not a lot of social bookmark websites out there will take your feed as part of your profile.
Lastly, you can add your other communities with Sphinn such as your username to DigitalPoint Forum, Twitter, Myspace, Digg, etc, but you will have to provide them the URL to your destination page. Boo.
In conclusion, I find Sphinn better for my specific niche and the simplicity. DropJack I can say is still in its early stages, as it does not provide a widget or formal button for bookmarking. They do not make it easy for other users to bookmark a website. Sphinn is very well rounded it looks very professional. It has several attributes that DropJack needs to start working on if it wants to survive in the Internet Social BookMarketing Game.
