Social bookmarks are new social media sites that are designed for web users to store web pages of interest; and they give web users the option to share their bookmarks with others. The concept behind social bookmarking can be traced back to 1996, when the itList system was introduced in April 1996. A year later, NASA introduced a newer bookmarking system called WebTagger. Between 1997 and 1999, several other bookmarking sites were launched, and included sites like ClickMarks, HotLinks, Clip2, Backflip, and Blink.

However, none became runaway successes, and the bursting of the dot com bubble put an end to all of them. When Delicious bookmarks were launched in 2003, it became the first online bookmarking site to enjoy widespread popularity. Ten years later, Delicious remains the fifth most popular social bookmarking site behind Twitter, Pinterest, reddit, and StumbleUpon.

The obvious benefits of social bookmarking include the convenience they offer to web users looking for a way to save their bookmarks online, and making them available to friends, colleagues, or the public. Depending upon the social bookmarking site one uses, users can choose which bookmarks to share with whom, or to keep them private. Because they are so versatile, the new social bookmarking sites have been adopted by professionals from business to education.

Now that the internet has become so pervasive in every facet of society, some professionals have found it convenient for sharing helpful materials, to collaborate on projects, and even to share materials with customers, students, parents, and the general public. In the business world, the top social bookmarking sites have proven useful as business professionals grow more mobile every year.

Social bookmarking is one of the new social media sites that have turned the internet world upside down. Only time will tell what the future holds for social media and bookmarking. Whatever that future is, it will certainly make sharing easier, faster, and even more flexible than we can probably imagine.