5 Ways to Boost Your Writing with Social Bookmarking
by Susan Johnston
From researching fiction markets to searching for stats to plug into a feature article, you’ll find a ton of useful information online. But when you’re juggling multiple projects and looking at dozens of different websites, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
I started using Del.icios.us to organize my online bookmarks last October, and it has helped me tremendously to streamline my writing and research process. I click the site’s "tag" button on my browser window so that I can quickly save any web page with a few clicks and add my own keywords so I can easily find it later. These are some of the ways that social bookmarking can improve your writing and blogging:
- Access your bookmarks anywhere. If you work from different computers , then this feature is invaluable. Once you log into the website, you’ll have all of your favorite links right at your fingertips. I recently bought a new laptop and instead of transferring the contents of my favorites folders, I use Del.icios.us.
- Cross-tag your bookmarks. With traditional favorites folders, you have to choose one title for each folder. I had folders in my market research for "women’s magazines" and "health magazines" and "regional magazines," but sometimes I couldn’t remember which folder I’d used to save something if it fit into multiple folders. Social bookmarking lets you add as many tags as you need so that X magazine shows up in all of the applicable categories that you choose.
- Organize your clips. Whenever I get an online clip that I might want to share with an editor or potential client, I save it under my clips folder in Deli.ico.us, along with other tags like "business," "food," or "money." Later when I’m applying for a business writing gig, I can easily find a bunch of business-related clips and choose the ones that are the best fit for the job.
- Swap links with other freelancers. Adding friends lets you share links in one click. The next time they log in, they’ll be able to see all of the links you’ve shared. I do this with several other writers, so whenever I find a new website or magazine that might be of interest to them, I pass it along and they do the same for me.
- Find more writing markets. After you save a link, you can see how many other users have also saved that link (and the other links they’ve saved). Say I bookmark the writer’s guidelines for a lifestyle website that I plan to query. I can see the ten other users who’ve bookmarked this same page, then click through to see what other pages they’ve saved. I’ve discovered a lot of interesting websites and even landed paying assignments using this strategy.
Have you tried social bookmarking? What sites do you use? If you’re on Del.icios.us, then I’d love to swap links with you. Add me to your network, and let me know if you’ve found other tactics for organizing your research and writing.
Susan Johnston is a freelance writer who has contributed to print and online publications including The Boston Globe, DailyCandy, and MediaBistro. She blogs about writing at The Urban Muse
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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:00 pm under
Wow, I’ve never even heard of this. (So much for being Web-savvy.) Neat—thanks for sharing!
May 7th, 2008 at 2:06 pmFor anyone who uses foxfire, you might want to try a program called “Zotero” to organize your internet research.
It was designed originally for academics doing web-research, but it’s got a lot of the same tagging and bookmarking functions as Del.icios.us, and it runs in the background of your firefox window without sending you to another webpage.
You can save webpages, add tags, automatically get bibliographical information for many databases (such as Amazon), add files, notes, pictures, put things into folders etc.
It doesn’t have the same sharing/social networking abilities as Del.icios.us, but if you’re looking for something to organize your bookmarks I’d definitely recommend it over the “bookmarks” option in most browsers.
It’s put out by George Mason University, so you can trust that it’s legitimate.
Do a search for “Zotero” and they have a great little video clip that shows you all it can do.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pmI just really don’t know much about all the “social marketing/media/bookmarking” etc. I guess I’m just a dinosaur! This is really helpful to me.
I didn’t grow up with a computer (until my sr yr of high school), no internet until after college, no cell phone until I’d had 2 kids, or text messaging (twice), IM (once in a while), or any of that stuff.
I’m good that everyone I know uses email!! This is great, though, and I’m so glad the more 2.0-savvy folks are sharing this good stuff.
Thank you - I’m sure what you suggest is more efficient than what I’m currently doing!
May 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm@Susan, this sounds very useful and productive. Thank you for sharing this with us.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:10 pmAdam, i.e. Zotero… I’ve never heard of foxfire, but I use it with firefox.
I like it except for one thing… it is stored locally. Usually that’s not a problem, but for me, I write from no less than 3 different computers, and trying to find a way of storing everything on line is becoming a pain. I also use Scribefire, which is close in that I can use a private blog to store things. Still a pain though.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pmHey, all! Thanks for weighing in. I learned this trick from my (much web-savvier) pal Shannon.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pmSusan,
I just started using del.icio.us in this way. and I am glad that you pointed out that this is web based so you can access or add to your links at any time. I was just copying and pasting links in a google document for portability, but this is much better, plus you can share and follow other’s links.
These tools, whether local or web based are perfect for a research hound like me. I find so much cool info and end up coming up with ideas that fade away because I didn’t bookmark or write them down.
As soon as I get more bookmarks, I’ll swap with you.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:37 amI’ve just started using Del.icio.us as well, and I’m liking it so far. I’m still used to using my Firefox bookmarks though…old habits are hard to break
May 8th, 2008 at 4:08 amThis is a really great tip!
May 8th, 2008 at 7:08 am@ Matt: They’re working on a server-side storage.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:31 am/drool
Thanks for the heads up, Adam.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:44 amGirl, this is the best topic yet! What an innovative way to find work! I’ve given you some link love over on my blog. Thanks for sharing this with all of us!
May 8th, 2008 at 9:19 amSusan, I was looking at your site, and I’m not sure what qualifies you as an expert. It doesn’t seem like you’ve been writing very long or for top tier publications. While some of your advice may be sound, I’m scratching my head at what makes you qualified?
May 9th, 2008 at 7:46 am@Cindy - What makes Susan qualified for what? Giving advice here? She certainly knows her way around a social bookmark.
Is there such thing as a social bookmarking expert? Do you get a certificate? And she’s here on my invitation as my guest - our guest and I’m happy to have her.
I don’t know that any of us claims to be experts but we can all share our tips and experiences and learn a thing or two. That’s what this blog is about. Not a oneupmanship contest over who is best qualified to give advice.
I also don’t believe writing for “Top Tier” publications means as much as it used to. But if that doesn’t qualify one as an expert, I guess there aren’t many of us here.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. Don’t be a stranger.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:06 amThanks for the note, Deb!
I’ve been freelancing for 4+ years and I’ve contributed to The Boston Globe and Self magazine (article on newstands in a few weeks), among other places. I think that speaks for itself.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:55 amWhat I think is important to note here is that we don’t need to check references and qualifications, here. It doesn’t matter. We’re just a bunch of writers sharing ideas and not one of us is better than the other.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:09 amWow, Susan, great piece! I’ve been lazy with the delicious thing but I signed up and added you to my network. Thanks so much for the advice. Using delicious seems to really be paying off for you so it’s about time I start using it.
By the way, I really admire you. You’re a hard working, successful freelance writer and I know you’re going to keep working hard to see the rest of your writing dreams come true! Keep up the great work!
May 9th, 2008 at 9:39 amThanks, Michele! I’ll add you to my network, too.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:40 amWell done Susan. Yet another helpful tip that I’ve featured on my blog. Keep up the great work!
May 9th, 2008 at 9:49 amDeb, I meant qualified to be giving advice on writing. One or two articles in the Globe and an upcoming story in a magazine is not a lot. How do you dispense advice when you are a newbie yourself? I just think you are coming across with expertise in the writing life, but you haven’t made it big enough yet to be sharing wisdom you haven’t garnered. To have a blog that says, here’s what I learned today is one thing. To have a blog that says, “This is how you do it, trust me on my advice, I’m successful,” is another. I won’t post any more. I’m not here to trash Susan’s efforts, but just to suggest that she be more upfront about her true experience. Top tier still means a lot. If it were easy, everyone would be able to do it regularly. It’s not.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:42 pm@ Cindy
I’m not an expert writer. I’m a total newbie, and even I know Susan’s advice is sound because I am willing to try it and it works.
Being a newbie, I’m pretty sure your quote “This is how you do it, trust me on my advice, I’m successful,” was not written by Susan, so I’m not sure why you are quoting.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm[…] Susan Johnston, the freelance writer also known by her nom de blog, The Urban Muse, writes about social bookmarking sites in a guest post on Freelance Writing Jobs, another nifty blog for […]
May 10th, 2008 at 10:05 amWith http://www.socialmarking.com you can easily bookmark any site to 130+ social bookmarking services. It also have a google gadget, buttons and blog plugins.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:04 am