The worldwide web has become a fathomless ocean of information available at the tip of your fingertips, where ignorance has no excuse. Access to seamless knowledge is easy, but retrieval of information relevant to a certain purpose can put your patience to a test. Where exactly do you start?

In a labyrinth of sites throughout the internet, to retrieve information at will is more difficult than finding a piece of needle among haystacks. Remembering specific location of information that need further study may pose a challenge as well.

Bookmarking was born out of these necessities.

Some people access the internet on “borrowed time” – during a coffee break, in the course of research, or in the middle of a conference session. Information they want to keep either for reference or for keepsake find a special place in the bookmark, the most convenient place to store valuable information while in haste.

Bookmarking can be done on addresses in the internet that you frequently visit. This aids you in locating valuable information, at once. News items you wish to read further, or do lengthy research on, can also be put in this special repository. Bookmarking is highly functional – almost anything can be saved for later.

But there are disadvantages as well.

Ordinary bookmarking in your PC’s browser may allow you to save valuable information but restricts your access to this information in your PC alone. Accessing it from an internet café, your school’s library or from the workplace is futile.

When you have overloaded your browser with stored information, retrieval may slow down, then you are back on square one – you will be finding pieces of needles among haystacks again.

Don’t despair. Social bookmarking is now here.

Social bookmarking has definite advantages and features, alien to ordinary bookmarking. For one, it has gone public.

Social bookmarking is shared by individuals belonging to a similar bookmarking service like Wirefan. It allows them access to their personal bookmarks anywhere, share these among their friends, or boost their collection with additional bookmarks coming from online friends, as well.

In short, social bookmarking transforms the concept of a once-private activity into a progressive interchange of information among people sharing what they find and gather from their virtual existence.

Every bookmark falls under a classification labeled with “tags”. Retrieval of select information becomes easier since tags describe what’s in store in the bookmark. Organizing and sharing of bookmarks among friends become hassle-free.

Browsing bookmarks belonging to other people, as well as allowing other people to view yours is made possible by social bookmarking, in fact, this feature defines what is “social” in social bookmarking.

Bookmarks do not merely define your preference, they tell your story. Remember, you are what you hold most dear to your hearts. Therefore, bookmark only what is good, fair and inspiring. We are directly responsible for the kind of influence we put on others.

Christiene S.C. Villanueva