Better Bookmarking: Clipmarks
Clipmarks is a simple bookmarking Firefox extension that is tied to a much larger collection of user’s shared bits of saved pages. Like Snipd, which I looked at yesterday, Clipmarks lets you save not just URLs, but pieces of the page.
The process of clipping information feels a little slower than other services. To add a comment or tags, you need to wait for a pop-up window to load. I expect a Firefox extension to use a non-web interface. All the functionality of Clipmarks seems possible via a bookmarklet, which could then be used in other browsers.
The real fun of Clipmarks comes from consuming others’ clips. You can follow users, similar to Twitter. Then those you follow are called “guides” and you can see a stream of the latest content shared by them.
Browsing clips, with its chrome-y interface, also feels a little slow. Luckily, Clipmarks has a wealth of RSS feeds. Following individual people or all your guides through an external reader is easy.
Connecting to other services is another area where Clipmarks really shines. Give it your Delicious or Magnolia credentials and your clips will also be posted to that service. For someone with many links stored on Delicious, it’s nice to know I don’t have to give up my old standby just to enjoy what’s new in bookmarking.
Similarly, you can clip pages directly into a blog post, email to friends, and share your clips in a Flash widget. Despite complaints I’ve had with speed, Clipmarks does get the social part of social bookmarking.
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