Social bookmarking is a way to save Internet sites on a particular topic to share with other Internet users. Instead of bookmarking being only used for personal use, it is a way to let others know what sites there are for a particular topic. However useful, there are also drawbacks to this kind of sharing. This article describes how to avoid the pitfalls of social bookmarking.

The main process for how to avoid the pitfalls of social bookmarking starts with the knowledge of how social bookmarking works. There are two main ways that bookmarks can be stored on a web site.

The first way is through the traditional browser-based system. Sites are stored in different folders, depending on the topic. Most sites however, prefer the tagging method of identification, where a certain tag is given to different sites with a similar theme. When the tag is typed in, all the sites that have been given that tag pop up, and information about how many people have visited the site as well.

Many sites also feature the use of comments about different sites, or emailing, or web annotation, or the ability to upload traditional browser bookmarks from individual computers, or a combination of all these features.

Social bookmarking is a great way to identify different sites on a similar topic. It is now seen as another form of search engine optimization, and good sites try to be highly placed and recommended on social bookmark sites.

Still, there are also pitfalls to avoid with the use of social bookmarking. How to avoid the pitfalls of social bookmarking does not have to be difficult. With a little knowledge, it is simple and easy.

One of the main problems with social bookmarking is that there are no standard keywords, making it hard to identify where a site should be placed. Misspelling is also a big issue, and can completely mess up a good format.

Another drawback is the fact that some tags have an unclear message, making it hard to know exactly what the tag is for. There is also no way to sub-categorize, which makes things confusing for people searching for specific keywords.

Another pitfall to social bookmarking is that spammers have discovered it as a way to bookmark spam sites over and over to make their sites more visible. Also this skews the genuine results of the bookmark pages.

So how to avoid the pitfalls of social bookmarking? The main thing would be to clearly label categories with correctly spelled labels. Also, if someone is running a social bookmarking page, then it would be a good idea to create some common keywords, and sub-categories.

It is hard to avoid the spammers, but perhaps there is a way that they can be banned for placing a site in a grouping that is not about the given keyword. Of course, if you are just a regular bookmarker, you may not be able to control such things, but perhaps suguesting it to the person that runs the social bookmarking site is enough. If everyone stands together to help make social bookmarking a clear and concise method for collecting websites, then it can only get better.

So now you know how to avoid the pitfalls of social bookmarking. If more people help make social bookmarking a helpful method for collecting websites, then the media will continue to improve. Good luck with your social bookmarking experiences.