Bookmark Sharing and Music

Previously, I was using del.icio.us ; recently I’ve been trying out ma.gnolia. These are social-bookmarking services, where your bookmarks are shared with all and sundry. An odd idea initially, but two possibilities have recently grabbed my attention.

The first is the reposting of bookmarks to other place. The linked list on this site is powered by reposting bookmarks tagged “toblog” from del.icio.us. The ability to republish links in this manner allows me to do something I’d not had the time to to before, and adds value to this site.

A second use is more interesting. I’ve taken to bookmarking bands I’ve found on myspace and elsewhere in a consistent manner using the tags “music” and “band”. Firstly, this allows me to easily find the bands I’ve liked recently — very useful at work, for example, if I want to listen to something fresh and new for a few minutes.

For a time, people have been asking who I’m listening to at the moment; I tend to struggle and my mind becomes blank. Now I can point them towards my bands+music ma.gnolia del.icio.us page, where they can both see who I’ve been listening to and listen themselves with a simple click of a link. Even better, however, is the bookmarks page can be subscribed to so each time I add a new band, anyone who has subscribed will be the first to know.

I think these services are exemplars how useful the ability to repurpose content is; I have certainly increased my use of the services since I discovered the capabilities on offer.

Update: I switched back to del.icio.us as ma.gnolia is sometimes slow and doesn’t spit out a feed at all.