What is social bookmarking?

Do you keep a list of bookmarks for your favorite Web sites? Have you ever forwarded those links to your friends and family so they can enjoy them? If so, you already understand the basics of social bookmarking. The only difference is that social bookmarking takes place on a much larger scale.

There are dozens of of social bookmarking sites across the Web, all of which provide a way for you to share news and information of your choosing with the world.

In the past, people went directly to the social bookmarking sites to submit stories. But now, a lot of news Web sites and blogs have caught on, and have started adding buttons to their sites that make the process much easier – and that's exactly what Land Line has done with the button on its story pages.

How do I use social bookmarking?

When you click the Bookmark button on the bottom of every Land Line story page (the button looks like this: ), a window will open that contains a list of social bookmarking sites.

Choose which site or sites you wish to submit the story to, click its name, and one of the following will happen:

1. If you're already a registered user on the site you clicked, you'll be sent to the site's story submission page.
2. If you're not already registered, most of the sites will direct you to a free signup page that you'll have to fill out before you can continue to the story submission page.

Once you've made it to the story submission page, simply fill out the required information, click the submit button on the page, and voila! Your story will be posted on the social bookmarking site.

Other users of that site will then be able to read the story you submitted and – in the case of many of the sites – give the story a vote or ranking that will determine how much attention your story gets on that site (and, consequently, how many people will see and read it).