What is social bookmarking? (Plus why it's useful)

By Indeed Editorial Team

Published 14 November 2022

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Social bookmarking is a practice that allows users to share and discover links to web pages that they find useful through a variety of platforms, including email, apps and bookmarking sites. It provides an easy way for people within an organisation to share links, which leads to better collaboration and a more efficient workflow. Learning about this practice can help you improve your productivity at work. In this article, we explain what social bookmarks are, look at why people use them at work and outline how to use social bookmarks.

What is social bookmarking?

Social bookmarking is the process of saving or adding a website or page to a list of links that you can easily access again. You can usually do this through some type of website, app or software, but you can also do this manually by taking a screenshot and saving the link.

This is beneficial in the workplace because it helps people save information that they may want to use later. It's also useful because it allows users to share their bookmarks with others so that those users can benefit from their work, which reduces the time wasted by colleagues who are looking for similar resources.

Why use social bookmarks?

Here's a list of reasons why people use social bookmarks at work:

Keep team members informed on new practices

Companies often use social bookmarks to help keep employees informed on new practices. By using these, they can put all their crucial documents in one place and make them available to their employees. When employees are looking for information that they need, they can simply click on the link and follow it directly to the document so that they can read it. This makes it easy for everyone to access relevant information when they need it, meaning that no employees waste time searching through their files or old emails.

Share project briefs with stakeholders

Social bookmarks are an excellent way of sharing project briefs with teams, shareholders and clients. With social bookmarks, you can store all your content in one place and then share links to it with other users. This is beneficial as it saves you from having to copy and paste links every time you send someone information. Instead, you can just send them a link to the item itself. This saves time because it eliminates the need for anyone who wants to view the information later on to make their own copies of these links.

Use as a training resource

As social bookmarks allow you to easily share resources, they're useful in an office setting. The main reason for this is that they're useful for sharing information with new employees. For example, if you have a new team member who requires knowledge about the company's policies and procedures, you can share these documents via a social bookmark so that they can look them up when they need them.

It's also useful to create a list of resources that can help speed up the onboarding process. For example, content creators can leave links to guides via a social bookmark on how to format certain projects.

How to use social bookmarks via email

Here's a list of steps that describe how to use social bookmarks via email:

1. Create a list of your favourite websites

When used correctly, social bookmarks are an extremely efficient way of improving productivity in the workplace. By creating a list of your favourite websites and sharing them with your colleagues, you ensure that everyone can access the same information quickly and easily. This allows them to spend less time searching for information and more time completing their work.

Creating lists of your favourite websites in a word processing document, for example, helps to ensure that you're bookmarking all your favourite websites at the same time. This is useful when sharing them with colleagues as you can send all the resources together.

2. Add your bookmarking account to your email contact list

It's crucial to add your bookmarking account to your email contact list when using social bookmarks because it allows you to connect with other users and build a network. Bookmarking is a great way to share information with others, but if you don't have an email address for someone on your contact list, then they can't receive any of the bookmarks that you post. By adding their email addresses to your contact list, you ensure that your colleagues receive access to these links and resources, which can help boost efficiency in the workplace.

3. Use social bookmarks to delegate tasks

Social bookmarks can also help with delegating tasks in the workplace, which is especially useful when working in a large team or as part of multiple teams. With social bookmarks, you can share links and generate discussions around them, which can help your team to stay organised and productive.

When using social bookmarks via email, create categories for different types of content, such as links, articles and documents, and set up folders for each category so that everyone can easily find the information for which they're looking. This helps with delegation, as it makes it easier for employees from different teams to access resources that are relevant to them.

How to use social bookmarks via an app

Here's a list of steps that describe how to use social bookmarks via an app:

1. Download the bookmarking app

When choosing a bookmarking app to download, there are many factors to consider. Think about how many bookmarks you plan on storing. If you're just using this for personal use, or if you want to store a few links for later reference, choose an app that offers enough storage space for this.

Another thing to consider is whether you plan on using the app from multiple devices. If so, then look for one that allows you to sync your bookmarks across multiple devices, as many apps offer this feature. When you've chosen the bookmarking app that you want to download, look for the ‘Install' button. Then, follow the instructions attached to the app to begin using social bookmarks.

2. Set up your profile and enter your desired username

Setting up your bookmarking app profile is a simple process, but consider the potential for misuse. If you choose a username that's inappropriate or open for misinterpretation, this may displease your employer. Avoid this situation by choosing a professional username without being too personal or inappropriate. For example, avoid using nicknames, even if people normally call you this name, because they can cause confusion when used in professional settings, especially if everyone else uses their full names.

3. Add some bookmarks to your account

When you're using this app, learn how to add bookmarks to your account. To start, open up your bookmarking app and open up a new tab in your browser window. In the search bar at the top of your browser window, type in www.example.com. Then, tap the menu button in the upper-right corner of your screen and click 'Add bookmark'. In some cases, it may also be necessary to click 'Add bookmark' again in the pop-up menu that appears. Repeat this process for as many links as you want to either save or share.

4. Share your bookmarked content with followers

One of the main advantages of using an app for your social bookmarks is that you can share content with your followers, allowing these individuals to find new, helpful content. Bookmarking apps allow you to easily organise your bookmarks and keep them separate from your browser's bookmarks folder. This allows your colleagues to find specific pieces of content more easily. These apps also allow you to add tags that make searching easier, which means that your colleagues can even add comments or thoughts about each bookmark, boosting collaboration.