| Social bookmarking sites generally
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| | (such as web sites) is done by human
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| organize their content using tags. Social
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| | beings, who understand the content of the
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| bookmarking sites are an increasingly
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| | resource, as opposed to software which
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| popular way to locate, classify, rank,
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| | algorithmically attempts to determine the
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| and share Internet resources through the
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| | meaning of a resource. This provides for
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| practice of tagging and inferences drawn
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| | semantically classified tags, which are
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| from grouping and analysis of tags.
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| | hard to find with contemporary search
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| History
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| | engines.
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| The concept of shared online bookmarking
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| | Additionally, as people bookmark
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| dates back to April 1996 with the launch
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| | resources that they find useful,
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| of Within the next three years online
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| | resources that are of more use are
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| bookmark services became competitive,
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| | bookmarked by more users. Thus, such a
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| with venture-backed companies like
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| | system will "rank" a resource based on
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| Backflip, Blink, Clip2, Hotlinks, Quiver,
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| | its perceived utility. This is arguably a
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| and others entering the market. Lacking
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| | more useful metric for end users than
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| viable models for making money, most of
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| | other systems which rank resources based
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| this early generation of social
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| | on the number of external links pointing
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| bookmarking companies failed as the
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| | to it.
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| dot-com bubble burst. The contemporary
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| | Automatic Notification
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| concepts of social bookmarking and
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| | Since the classification and ranking of
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| tagging took root with the launch of the
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| | resources is a continuously evolving
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| web site oneview in 1999[1] and
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| | process, many social bookmarking services
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| del.icio.us, in September of 2003.
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| | allow users to subscribe to syndication
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| Functional Overview
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| | feeds (see RSS) based on tags, or
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| In a social bookmarking system, users
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| | collection of tag terms. This allows
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| store lists of Internet resources, which
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| | subscribers to become aware of new
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| they find useful. Often, these lists are
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| | resources for a given topic, as they are
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| publicly accessible, and other people
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| | noted, tagged, and classified by other
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| with similar interests can view the links
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| | users.
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| by category, tags, or even randomly. Some
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| | Disadvantages
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| social bookmarking systems allow for
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| | There are drawbacks to such tag-based
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| privacy on a per-bookmark basis.
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| | systems as well: no standard set of
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| They also categorize their resources by
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| | keywords (also known as controlled
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| the use of informally assigned,
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| | vocabulary), no standard for the
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| user-defined keywords or tags (see
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| | structure of such tags (e.g. singular vs.
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| folksonomy). Most social bookmarking
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| | plural, capitalization, etc.), mistagging
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| services allow users to search for
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| | due to spelling errors, tags that can
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| bookmarks which are associated with given
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| | have more than one meaning, unclear tags
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| "tags", and rank the resources by the
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| | due to synonym/antonym confusion, highly
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| number of users which have bookmarked
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| | unorthodox and "personalized" tag schemas
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| them. Many social bookmarking services
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| | from some users, and no mechanism for
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| also have implemented algorithms to draw
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| | users to indicate hierarchical
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| inferences from the tag keywords that are
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| | relationships between tags (e.g. a site
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| assigned to resources by examining the
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| | might be labeled as both cheese and
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| clustering of particular keywords, and
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| | cheddar, with no mechanism that might
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| the relation of keywords to one another.
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| | indicate that cheddar is a refinement or
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| Advantages
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| | sub-class of cheese).
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| This system has several advantages over
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| | The separate (but related) tagging and
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| traditional automated resource location
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| | social bookmarking services are, however,
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| and classification software, such as
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| | evolving rapidly, and these shortcomings
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| search engine spiders. All tag-based
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| | could possibly be addressed in the near
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| classification of Internet resources
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| | future.
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