Social Information Network

The purpose of this paper is to discuss my experience as part of a social information network. I have been part of many social information networks in my life. Among my favorite social information networks is Digg.com, which I follow almost daily when time allows. Digg is a user-driven social news website and in many ways resembles Diigo. In fact, the names are remarkably similar, although their originations share no similarities. Diigo allows users to create groups that develop into communities for the sharing of bookmarks and topics. These bookmarks and topics may be tagged and commented upon by the user community. The ability to snapshot and share content are also functions built into Diigo. My overall experience with Diigo was positive and I found it an excellent social learning tool. Diigo provided two primary pathways for learning. Firstly, I learned through my own sharing and commenting on content, and secondly, I learned through others by viewing, reviewing, and analysing their shared content and comments.

Social information networks are some of the most popular websites on the Internet, and they are by far the best for aggregating online content. In 2006, I recall, Digg.com was ranked somewhere around the 60th most popular website on the Internet. In fact, when a bookmarked website reached the front page of Digg something known as the “digg effect” occurred. The massive number of unique users visiting a website through Digg would end up shutting the site down if it had not properly prepared its hosting situation beforehand. Many sites quickly became inaccessible after reaching the front-page of Digg. There are a wide variety of reasons why social information network sites are so popular, and this paper touches upon several of those reasons. One of the primary reasons that said sites become so popular is that through their socially-oriented comment structure they provide a go-to aggregate of the experiences of group of individuals associated with a topic