Digg - Digg was created by Kevin Rose. Its claim to fame is allowing users to submit stories they want others to see. It also allows users to comment on these stories, giving them the opportunity to contribute their two cents on a topic. They have the biggest user-base compared to any other social website.
Digg is a great site for anyone to use. It has a huge user-base, which filters out stories that no one wants to read. Also, the commenting function is fast and easy; the comments can be rated too.
Netscape - Netscape allows users to submit stories onto its site. This site has more formal and serious news topics that its competitors. It’s focused on the average online web-browser more than a certain demographic.
Netscape is a little bit too formal for average blog posts. Its focus is about serious news topics; nothing that’s laid back. In many ways, it’s a mirror of Digg - all the ranking and commenting systems are very similar.
Technorati - Technorati is a search engine focused on looking up content from over 75,000,000 blogs. They also have incorporated a search on YouTube. This site also gives users a chance to see topics that are currently popular.
This site is great, if you love blogs. However, if you aren’t interested in blogs, just use Google or a more common search engine.
Del.icio.us - Del.icio.us allows users to share their bookmarks with other users. It also lets users find more sites that relate to their interests. The “hotlist” on the site makes it an effective conveyor of popular online trends.
Del.icio.us is very simplistic looking but brilliant for bookmarking. You can see the top bookmarks, without having to navigate away from the front page. It also has a global search engine, which allows you to see all the bookmarks relating to your topic.
StumbleUpon - StumbleUpon is an add-on to web browsers, which lets users find other sites that they are interested in. They get their database of websites from other users, who tag the sites and provide descriptions of the content of those sites.
You can spend hours on this site, thanks to the sheer size of their database. After you enter in your interests, you will be taken to a site that interests you every time you click on the StumbleUpon button. They also have StumbleUpon video, so you can create a non-stop stream of videos that you would love to watch.
Reddit - Reddit is a site dedicated to news sharing. The clean, simplistic look of the site is the major factor that distinguishes it from other social websites. This site attracts the attention of more technical web surfers.
Reddit is Digg’s more techie and more modest counterpart. This site is for people who want to just see the story headline and a lot of stories at the same time. However, if technology doesn’t appeal to you, Digg is a better option.
Slashdot - Slashdot is for the science and technology lover, instead of the average online user. Unlike other sites, this site’s editors check all the stories, which allows the site to control what the feel and tone of the website is. Slashdot was one of the first sites to incorporate a commentary section, a forum in this case.
Slashdot is a geek’s paradise. All the articles are reviewed by moderators, keeping it oriented to tech-related topics. The flip side of this is that you can only see stories that moderators approve of, so most of the site’s content is biased.
Fark - Fark basically summarizes news articles from different newspapers. These articles are submitted by users and then are approved by the site’s moderators. Fark also has PhotoShop contests to determine the best graphical representation of their name. One drawback is that to gain full privileges of the site, you must pay a fee of $5 per month.
The major advantage of Fark.com is that you can see news articles and comment, without any trivial points. The commenting system is nothing special, just people posting a few lines.
BlinkList - BlinkList is like Del.icio.us, in that it allows people to bookmark sites. Its applications include being used as a classroom tool, where teachers can post the websites that they want their students to visit. Like some other sites, BlinkList is an add-on on to your browser.
BlinkList is yet another bookmarking site, but it has a good site layout and good features. Also, you can modify your account to suit your needs. The add-on for bookmarking is quick and easy to use.
Newsvine - Newsvine is a website that shows news articles and allows users to comment on the stories. This site had a good reputation, since people from other newspapers have cited sources originating from Newsvine. This site also gives users the ability to tag stories that are relevant.
The layout of Newsvine makes it look like an established newspaper. The stories are serious but still chosen by the users. The commenting system has nothing special. This site is for people who want serious news articles from various sources that are filtered through their peers.
Furl - Furl stands for File Uniform Resource Locators. The purpose of this site is to store documents and allows users to access the documents of other people. The site also allows them to get the citations of these documents in various formats.
This site will be the savior for many groups. The ability to post a document and allow other people to reach it, without directly sending them the document or a URL, is great. For students who want resources quickly and to be cited as soon as they get it, this site is great.
Blogmarks - Blogmarks is a site that allows users to control and maintain their bookmark collection. Like all other bookmarking sites, users can also submit websites and tags. Unfortunately, this site doesn’t keep a record of currently popular topics.
Blogmarks is a good site for people who want to see other people’s bookmarks. Also, the little preview for the link is terrific. Besides the nice layout and design, this site has nothing much to offer to the casual bookmarker.
Shoutwire - Shoutwire is an online newspaper site, which gives users the opportunity to submit new articles, videos, pictures, and also stories directly into their blogs.
Shoutwire is an average news-sharing site. The news articles are a mix of serious and humorous ones. Its claim to fame is its ability to let users view clips and pictures. I would recommend this site to anyone looking for the picture-version of Digg.
Simpy - Simpy is a bookmarking service that, like other sites, allows users to tag and share sites, as well as notes and groups. An advantage of this site is that it searches the entire text, not just the metadata file. They also take pride in not requiring payment and having no advertisements on their site.
Simpy is another one of your average bookmarking services. The fact that it searches the full text instead of just major categories or titles is a unique aspect of this site. However, the minimalist style doesn’t work for them; the bad scaling of the columns and headers does anything but enhance their site. It’s just another bookmarking site in the sea of bookmarking sites.
Spurl - Spurl is a bookmarking site, which allows users to upload their bookmarks. The site publishes hotspurls and newspurls, which show the most active and the newest bookmarks. Unfortunately, the hotspurls and newspurls are prone to spamming.
Spotplex - Spotplex is a site that allows users to post the stories that they want to post. Unlike other sites, Spotplex ranks sites on the basis of views, not votes. This site also provides a list on the popular tags.
Spotplex will become very popular soon. The way it rates stories, with the number of views, is unique. This site has similar sorting features as Digg and also shows the most popular tags. Watch for this to become a major bookmarking site in the near future.
MyBookmarks - MyBookmarks is a site that allows users to bookmark sites. This site has a function which exports bookmarks back to the browser, as well as importing the bookmarks from the browser to the site. Unfortunately, this site does not have public search options for the entire site.
MyBookmarks seems too basic. One good point is that it can put your favorites back into your browser. One drawback, however, is that you cannot do a global search; you only can search one person’s profile. Another drawback is that its bookmark organization is clumsy and old. This site has nothing special and can be easily surpassed.
Spotback - Spotback is a site that allows users to vote and rank sites. Spotback then recommends other sites based on these total rankings and filtering. Webmasters can use this tool to see how popular their sites are compared to those of their competitors.
For an ordinary websurfer, this site is full of hidden links. The rating scheme is better then most competitors out on the market. If you are a webmaster, it is essential that you incorporate this site into your own. Not only does this site compare your site, it allows you to compare yourself to other online competitors.
Clipmarks - This site allows users to share “clips” or pieces that you can “tear out” of websites. This can be used to transfer information in a quick and easy manner, or it can be used to send family and friends articles from or pieces of other sites.
This site is great, since its allows you to rip out parts of webpages. I can send a page to my friend in India and show him the part I want him to see, instead of just giving him a URL. I greatly recommend this site for anyone trying to send people straight to the point information.
Blue Dot - Blue Dot is a social bookmarking network. When users log in, they’ll see a summary of “dots”, which represents their bookmarked pages. One of this site’s goals is to become integrated in the everyday lives of its users.
Blue Dot wants to be your homepage. This site is very user-friendly, since it has pretty much anything and everything a person would want on their homepage, be it news, music, or blogs. Anyone who wants an all-inclusive homepage, Blue Dot is the one to have.
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