Social marketing is a popular concept when it comes to online marketing. And these days, you can hardly read a blog without seeking a link to something called del.icio.us. Given the catchy web address, I couldn’t resist exploring what del.icio.us is all about.

What's with the Name?
First, how did it get that attention-grabbing name? If your suspecting that the .us suffix plays a role here, you’re absolutely right. According to Wikipedia.com :

The ‘del.icio.us’ domain name was a well-known example of a domain hack , an unconventional combination of letters to form a word or phrase. Del.icio.us and delicio.us now redirect to the new domain, delicious.com .

In an interview, [Del.icio.us founder Joshua] Schacter explained how he chose the name: "I'd registered the domain when .us opened the registry, and a quick test showed me the six letter suffixes that let me generate the most words. In early discussions, a friend referred to finding good links as 'eating cherries' and the metaphor stuck, I guess."

So what is del.icio.us all about? On the most basic level, it’s a site that bookmarks web pages for you. Using a website to bookmark websites for you has advantages over relying on your web browser. If you’re away from your home or office machine and need to access a favorite website, you can use the del.icio.us website to do so.

Of course, the fact that del.icio.us is a website accessible by anyone means that there are literally millions of these lists. If you have friends that use the service, del.icio.us allows you to share your favorite sites with them and vice versa. This is a great help when researching information on the web; if your friends are aware of what information you are looking for they can always send you links for any information they find. The concept is strikingly similar to that of networking techniques used by job hunters. Del.icio.us also makes use of tag words. A user that, for example, finds an interesting yet obscure source of information regarding the 1930 Philadelphia Quakers professional hockey tem could make future searches for the information much easier for everyone by associating the website with the tags “hockey”, “Philadelphia”, NHL, etc.

Potential for Marketing
However, one of the best aspects, at least from a marketer’s point of view, has to be the lists by popularity. Like being on the front page of a search portal result, making it onto the popular del.icio.us lists is an opportunity for market exposure, especially given its popularity. I conducted a brief web search for articles on using del.icio.us to improve a company’s market exposure; the best one I came across was 3 Tips for Marketing More Effectively With Del.icio.us which, as the name implies, is a quick article with some helpful ideas. There are, of course, many other articles on this subject. The best way to find them? Go to the del.icio.us website and type “del.icio.us marketing” into the search engine…

How Do I Sign Up?
So now that you know what del.icio.us is all about, why not sign up and give it a try? The sign up procedure is very straightforward – to paraphrase a slogan from a local jewelry dealer, “Their name is their address.” All you need to supply is a username, password, and e-mail address and you’re on your way. There is also a plug in available for you web browser that adds a tool bar to your screen, but it is not necessary to download this to make use of the service.

Even if you don’t use del.icio.us for marketing purposes, there’s lot’s of interesting information waiting to be discovered there. You can click here to get started. Happy searching!