We live in an age of overwhelming waves of information. And as useful as the internet can be, even savvy users have trouble sorting the good from the bad and then storing it for future reference.

The del.icio.us solution

The simplest way of looking at del.icio.us is as a bookmark directory, but delicious breaks many of the conventions of directories. Delicious is non-hierarchical and uses keywords to categorize bookmarks.

Although tagging systems are not new, delicious was the first to successfully introduce the system in a bookmarking context. And while delicious’ tagging system is powerful and extremely useful, the site’s true value only surfaces when you consider the social implications.

When you store a bookmark at delicious, the site tells you how many times that page has been bookmarked. This is extremely useful information. The more bookmarks, the more likely the page contains useful or original content. The idea is similar to Google’s weighting of pages based on the number of incoming links, except delicious measures pages we care enough about to store in our personal bookmarks.

What’s with the name?

The “del.icio.us” domain name is one of the best-known domain hacks (using an unusual combination of letters to form a word). Although the name is catchy, it is scheduled to be shelved with the release of version 2 of the site. I imagine they’re making the switch to delicious.com to make the site more accessible.

Why I use del.icio.us

With more than 3 million users and 100 million bookmarked urls, delicious is continually linking to the best of the internet.

And since delicious allows users to store both public and private bookmarks, it’s perfect for storing my professional and personal bookmarks in one place. And with their tagging system, I have multiple ways to meaningfully store and retrieve my links.

I can also explore other people’s bookmarks and tags, subscribe to tags, or explore what’s currently hot on delicious. Although exploring delicious can be entertaining, I primarily use it for research and my own bookmarks.

I also use delicious to bookmark quality articles and resources to reward the author and highlight the content for others. With splogs and spammy sites multiplying, I expect search engines to eventually tap into user ratings at social media sites. In fact, StumbleUpon already offers supplemental information about Google’s search results.

How I use del.icio.us

I prefer to use the official firefox extension which replaces firefox’s standard bookmarks with my online bookmarks (also available for IE and there are many third party tools as well). However, for those times away from my iMac, I know I can always explore my bookmarks from any web browser.

I also subscribe to a handful of investing, personal finance, and economics tags that allow me to keep track of what’s hot with delicious bookmarkers.

How del.icio.us will help you

Del.icio.us is a very flexable social bookmarking tool that can help you keep all of your online resources, articles, and sites instantly accessible. Delicious will even import your old bookmarks, applying tags based on folder names (I imported a lot of bookmarks…and I haven’t quite finished cleaning them up yet).

Even if you don’t want to take the plunge with a new method of organizing your bookmarks, head over to del.icio.us and do some searching. Or, if you’re in need of more convincing, check out the following articles that were submitted as part of the Social Media Mega Project.

• TIPS ON HOW TO USE DEL.ICIO.US @ yeepage.com
• They Used To Call It Social Bookmarking @ alltipsandtricks.com
• Del.icio.us Is The Best @ a1-fan-fun.com
• What is the best social media website? Digg, SU, Delicious, Reddit … or? @ justcreativedesign.com
• The Success Checklist I Used To Hit #1 on del.icio.us, with Resulting Screenshots @ groupwritingprojects.com
• Share Your del.icio.us Links With WordPress @ raproject.com
• Make sure to check out the Social Media Mega Project for the final collaborative results.

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Although this is a blog On Financial Success, success requires more than simply good financial decisions. New tools and skills are required for financial success as we transition into a knowledge based economy. Your ability to find, learn, store, and manipulate information online is very important.

Over the next month, InspirationBit is running a Social Media Mega Project where participating blogs will share their experiences with and tips for some of the biggest social media sites.

Each social media site is sponsored by an individual blog that is responsible for starting and organizing the discussion. Discussion can take the form of a blog post or an email to me if you do not have a blog, but would still like to share a tip about del.icio.us.

Hosting the del.icio.us project

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service that allows you to store your favorite sites publicly for your benefit and others’ benefit. Del.icio.us uses a powerful tagging system which allows you to quickly record and locate bookmarks while avoiding the maintenance hassles of a folder system. (You can view my bookmarks here.)

Make sure to check out the other host blogs and participate with a post if you have any experience with the following sites:

• Facebook. Host: Ina from Inspiring Wear
• Flickr & Zooomr. Host: Brian Auer from Epic Edits
• Twitter, LinkedIn. Host: Isabella Mori from Change Therapy and Alphablogs
• StumbleUpon, YouTube, MySpace. Host: Karen Zara from a1-fan-fun
• Sphinn. Host Simonne from All Tips And Tricks
• Second Life. Host Dandellion from Living in the Metaverse
• Mixx, Propeller, Squidoo. Host: Pearl from Fresh Perspectives
• Sk*rt, Blogging Zoom, Bvibes. Host: JHS from Colloquium
• Digg & Reddit. Host: Vivien from InspirationBit

Stay tuned for my post on how and why I use del.icio.us.

The small print

Disclaimer

Cash prizes are involved for the most successful hosts, but that is not my goal. I have two hopes for this project. First, I would like to help my readers become more savvy when it comes to online tools like del.icio.us. Second, I hope this project might remind or introduce visitors to the steps to building wealth.

Rules

1. Write a post on your blog and share with us how you integrate del.icio.us into your blogging, work, tell us about your good or bad experience, how would you compare this social networking site with others, what do you like or don’t like about it, how did you benefit from becoming a frequent user of this site, what secrets have you learned about it, what tips or warnings would you like to inform others about?
2. Contact me with your name, email and a permalink to your post. If you don’t have your own blog, you can simply send me your thoughts to be included in a compiled post.
3. Once I collect the links from all participants and publish them on my blog, you can write another post and link to either all or only your favorite articles by other bloggers.
4. You are allowed to contribute only one article per project/site. You are more than welcome to visit other participating blogs that host projects dedicated to the different social media sites and take part in those projects by submitting your articles about other social networking sites.

Deadlines

• Start Date: Monday, January 21st
• End Date: Friday, February 22nd
• Results Publication Date: Monday, February 25th
• Final Collaborative Results were published @ Inspiration Bit on Friday, February 29th

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One way of measuring our lives is by the friends we keep and the legacies we leave behind. Another option is measuring our successes. Sometimes we have big successes to point to, other times our success is found in our persistence and a job well done.

The pursuit of financial success

Opinions vary on financial success. Some people think it will be forever beyond their reach, others desire and work towards it intensely, and still others know it is possible but are unsure of the path.

We all want financial success because it provides freedom and opportunities.

But achieving success can be demanding. Successful people take risks. They innovate. They work towards their goals and in the end, they are more successful than they would have been if they’d settled for the status quo.

The beautiful thing about success

Success is contagious. Your neighbor’s success can inspire you, or if you choose, discourage you. But it always makes the world a better place (assuming it’s an honest moral venture).

When your neighbor invents a new tool, starts a business, or comes up with a novel idea—the world gets a tiny bit better. If your neighbor becomes wildly successful, even better! Because the financial success confirms that something useful and valuable has been created. People generally do not throw their money away; they exchange it for something they value more highly.

How does this relate to blogging success?

Like most types of success, blogging success improves our world. New ideas, more friendly packaging, or interesting entertainment is rewarded with attention and even money.

At this point, my biggest blogging accomplishment is simply my transition from observer to blogger. This leap was challenging because I had to get beyond my “need” for perfection, so I could actually get some work done!

I also had several more important and simultaneous priorities at the time: (1) transitioning from bachelorhood to being a husband and a father to my adopted son, (2) my graduate studies which involved teaching and grading hundreds of papers, and (3) building a house out in the woods.

Set yourself up for success

The internet has opened up a world of opportunity and blogging has made sharing your ideas easier than ever before. We are only just beginning to reap the rewards, but we can be certain the outcome will be amazing because:

The biggest leaps in human development have always come from trade—resources, products, and ideas.

So, start yourself on the path to success today. Put your dreams to paper and create a list of concrete goals that will help you make your mark on history.

On Financial Success will be here to help you set your financial life up as a resource instead of a distraction or barrier to pursuing your dreams.

This article was written for All Tips and Tricks’ Best Blogging Achievement Writing Project.

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