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Social bookmarking is nothing new; sites like Digg, Stumble Upon and del.icio.us, just to name a few, have been around for years and still boast millions of users. For marketers, social bookmarking sites are important because they provide another way for people to share information and recommendations about their brand. But, like everything in the digital realm, the only constant is change.
One example of this evolution is the idea of social curation, captured by Pearltrees -- a site that allows you to “tag” content in a unique and intuitive way. “Pearl” online content directly into your Pearltrees drop-zone, then organize pearls into trees. Pearltrees can also synch with Twitter so that a tweeted link automatically populates your drop-zone.
With an interface reminiscent of Visual Thesaurus, content areas can be intuitively organized in nesting patterns of varying depth. The thought-leadership applications really shine here, with one place to link to webs of content.
Get Glue is another example. Dubbed a “social browsing assistant”, the concept feels a little like a Foursquare spin-off. Members create a profile filled with favorite books, movies, music, etc. and can browse others’ recommendations, reviews and ratings.
The free iPhone app allows you to “check in” when reading/viewing/listening to something new and get real-time visibility to what others are kicking back with. Interaction earns points and stickers which translate into rewards from film companies, publishers, record labels, etc.
Users can bombard their Facebook friends and Twitter followers by sharing “likes” across platforms, but marketers will particularly love the affiliate click-through opportunities and the sponsor-branded stickers the site may incorporate in the future.
Both these sites are quickly gaining steam, and users are seeing the value in taking digital sharing to new levels. Marketers should sit up and take note.
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