Recently we had to find a bookmarking application for everyone to collaboratively use at SwellPath.  We wanted a “mind share” for all of us to be able to put bookmarked articles and whatnot into.  We wanted to be able to keep some bookmarks private, but most public so our clients, partners and friends could benefit from them also.  I use delicious so I wasn’t really into using it for this, because switching back and forth between identities is not really feasible.  I would have had to give up being logged into my wheresitworking account to switch to this new identity for SwellPath.  If ma.gnolia still functioned, it probably would have been the solution, but it isn’t functioning.

I hunted around a bit, and played around with many of the bookmarking apps I’ve tried out in the past.  Nothing really seemed to work for what we wanted, until I revisted Furl.  Furl had a message about how it had been bought and was being rolled into Diigo.  Obviously this gave me some confidence in Diigo’s ability to survive in this somewhat crowded space, so I decided to give it a serious try.  I was very satisfied.

Diigo allows you to do everything you can basically do on delicious: bookmark, tag, friend others, search, etc.  However, there are some additional features that I feel make Diigo really nice to use.  Here are my thoughts after a few days of use:

• You can organize your bookmarks into lists.  Seems redundant with tags right?  But it really isn’t: lists allow you to group your bookmarks into larger buckets that can be quickly glanced at.
• Diigo has groups.  Not necessarily a feature we were looking for, but it shows an intent to organize the social aspect of bookmarking a little more than most other bookmarking sites do.
• Highlighting, commenting, and “sticky notes” as you add a bookmark.  Added content that you customize and associate with your bookmark.  User-generated content beyond just the bookmark and basic info.
• The interface is clean, yet incorporates the lists, groups, and other additional features.  It feels easier to navigate and work with than delicious; most of this sentiment is valid, but some of it may be because I’m so used to delicious, and Diigo is something different.

Overall, I’d definitely suggest checking out Diigo, even if you’re a hardcore delicious (or other bookmarking app) user.  If you do, friend SwellPath.