An emergent class of web applications blurs the boundary between single user application and online public space. Recently popular web applications like del.icio.us help manage information traditionally kept on personal machines, while allowing for sharing with the community at large. An analysis of del.icio.us, a web-based bookmarks manager, shows that users who perceive greater degrees of social presence are more likely to annotate their bookmarks with information that could facilitate the sharing and discovery of bookmarks for other del.icio.us users. The design principles of del.icio.us and similar systems along with the findings of the present analysis reveal useful implications for the design of information sharing systems and knowledge repositories. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.5 Online Information Services, J.4 Social and behavioral sciences General Terms Measurement, Design, Human Factors Keywords del.icio.us, information sharing, social computing, social presence
Kathy J. Lee