Why del.icio.us Is Becoming My Default Search Engine For Research
That's what occurred to me during my latest presentation on Social Media Marketing for the IAB Canada. For all research, del.icio.us is becoming my default search engine. Before explaining why, let's take a quick look at what del.icio.us is.
Most people simply know del.icio.us as an online social network for bookmarking. I know, it sounds like a lot of Web 2.0 hyperbole. del.icio.us allows you to not just save your favorite Websites, but any single web page, article or piece of content. It allow allows you to tag the content (which makes it easy to find) and it does act as an online social network as you can link your account to other people you know who have del.icio.us accounts, or to others who are tagging content that you find relevant. This last point is the main reason why del.icio.us has become my default search engine for any and all research.
Google is, without a doubt, a powerful Search Engine. However, Google's organic search results are based on a computer algorithm that looks at things like relevancy, links, keywords, etc... It's a system that is constantly being gamed by Search Engine Optimization professionals. Technorati is a social media search engine (one that I use to search and see what people are saying in Blogs about our clients and their products). Technorati provides an amazing landscape of what people are saying right at this moment in time.
del.icio.us is most powerful because the content that is being tagged and stored is stuff that individuals have chosen and flagged. A real human being. So, when I am looking to do market research on something like email open rates in the United States, and I see a report, Website, web page or article that someone has tagged, my feeling is that it must be of value (one of my favorite features of del.icio.us is that for each item you can see how many people have tagged that specific piece of content). That is respect.
Respect is a huge factor in deciding what content lives (or dies) to the individual (are you listening Marketers?). Knowing that a group of people have identified the same piece and tagged it for themselves, is a completely different search spirit.
I think most people who use del.icio.us always saw it as a selfish way to have their bookmarks with them wherever in the world they may be. I see del.icio.us as the ultimate test in deciding whether or not a piece of content has value. It is a live trust barometer of the Web and something Marketers need to be paying attention to.
You can feel free to see what content/information I'm tagging over here: http://del.icio.us/mitchjoel. You can also subscribe to my del.icio.us tag by RSS which means that any time I tag an item, you will be notified in your Reader. Lastly, if you're a Facebook fan you can also add your del.icio.us page to your profile - enabling all of your friends to see what you're tagging too.
Happy Bookmarking!
