Americans spend hours each week idly surfing the web for interesting news, videos, and information. When someone finds a page that tickles their fancy, its easy enough to add it to their browser favorites. That process is known as bookmarking. When they decide that they want to share that bookmark with others, be they friends, co-workers, or even strangers, there is no better way to do so than through a social bookmarking site.

These sites allow users to share online bookmarks . by uploading browser bookmarks, installing a toolbar icon, or manually entering a new URL, a user creates their own bookmark database on one of these sites. The best part is that those bookmarks are available to other users of the site, and sometimes to the entire internet community . Sites that are popular with more users, those with the most “votes”, get pushed to the top so that others can find them more easily and most bookmarks are tagged by subject matter so that they can be searched by subject.

Many sites let individuals choose their level of sharing, either by bookmark or by list. This allows users to decide if a bookmark is just for their own personal use, to be shared with friends, or to be available to anyone. Some sites even have a direct share button that allows users to send a message with the bookmark to select friends. It’s much easier than having to open an email account, paste a bookmark, add a message, find the friend’s email address and send.