Twitterlicious!*

It’s several months now since I started using Twitter. It’s usefulness as a research tool became increasingly apparent as my following and followers matured. For me, the tipping point was the introduction of the automatic twitter feature in Delicious. Now, nearly all my new bookmarks are automatically twittered. Whilst my Delicious is long established as an effective personal management resource, I have never really engaged with the ‘social-ness’ of social bookmarking. Attempts at using Delicious networking facilities – and with it the potential to extend bookmark annotation to a collaborative activity – have been largely unsuccessful. Twitter’s 140 word limit restricts any annotation (or indeed, critical discourse in general) to that of the soundbite – which is why blogging remains important – yet its value in broadcasting key links in a timely and socially constructive environment is a powerful process which Delicious never really capitalised on.
* I am aware that this phrase has been adopted as a name for several mashup tools (without the !) but you just can’t think up anything these days without someone getting there first.

It’s several months now since I started using twitter. It’s usefulness as a research tool became increasingly apparent as my following and followers matured. For me, the tipping point was the introduction of the integrated tweet feature in delicious. Now, nearly all my new bookmarks are automatically twittered. Whilst my delicious is long established as an effective personal management resource, I have never really engaged with the ‘social-ness’ of social bookmarking. My attempts at using delicious networking facilities – and with it the potential to extend bookmark annotation to a participatory activity – have been largely unsuccessful. Twitter’s 140 word limit restricts any annotation (or indeed, critical discourse in general) to that of the soundbite – which is why blogging remains important – yet its value in broadcasting web links in a timely and socially constructive environment is a powerful process which delicious never really capitalised on.

* I am aware that this phrase (without the !) has been adopted as a name for several mashup tools, but you just can’t think up anything these days without someone getting there first.

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