Add Persistent Highlights and Sticky Notes on Any Webpage
Diigo, the Web's premier annotation, bookmarking and research tool, just released their latest version of this resourceful tool. Unfortunately, the top tier of tech bloggers were not overly enthusiastic in their coverage. Such useful and appropriate innovation deserves a similar degree of acknowledgment in my view, but somehow writers seem to have fallen into what we might call a "sound byte" methodology especially in describing complex startups. Don't you want to know about things that help you?
Diigo is fairly well accepted as the best research tool on the Internet. Classified (incorrectly I might add) as uniquely a bookmarking tool, the feature filled platform is actually more of a people driven data gathering tool. With refined aspects allowing for marking, annotating, saving, sharing, organizing and manipulating Web data – Diigo essentially emulates most aspects of human powered research and study organization. Diigo helps users "grab" knowledge from all over the Web and stores it in a platform where it can be assimilated. Version 3 is all about accentuating and integrating these and more online research tools with socially interactive community aspects.Version 3 Refinements
A great new UI, a new Diigo toolbar and especially an added fully functional sidebar have added great form and function to Diigo. Version 3 has over 100 new features; here are some of the new features.
Diigo as a research tool: Diigo's entire browser extension has been re-designed for improved usability, with a sidebar where a user can easily search and access their bookmarks, annotations and notes. This sidebar adds great flexibility and simplicity to viewing annotations and in using other Diigo functions. Users can view, search, tag and perform other functions in the sidebar while still using the classic view and/or surfing for resources.
Team research platform - Another powerful Version 3 addition is the enhanced ability for users to vote or approve bookmarks in a rather "suggestive" matrix. Group tagging, allows entire groups to suggest the "best of the best" and in this fashion good content (voted on by a collective) tends to rise to the top. Suggestive excellence may be the best feature of any social network and Diigo's content is superb.
Social Browser Discovery - The Diigo toolbar has been a great innovation of Web 2.0. Now with Version 3 users have added utility; users can see what others have tagged or marked as well as similar pages. This toolbar is the heart of the Diigo gathering machine and the new version rocks with features.
Personalization - Diigo as a source of collective social content makes finding, selecting, evaluating and effectively using interesting content much simpler. Users can see much more clearly the tags of individuals and groups, while browsing content of friends, group members or the Diigo community as a whole. From recommended news to top rated bookmarks, Diigo has added a compelling new way to gather and use data.
Networking – Diigo's strength as a social network has not yet been realized as the startup has not been overly promoted until now. An increased user base will only add to the great content and essentially empower the content and suggestive elements to "connect" users with more and more refined content. A network acting on such a storehouse of great data will truly make for a worthwhile series of valuable connections. Diigo is no Facebook beer sending messenger, but a serious knowledge matrix where people can derive real value.
Here is a video explaining it all in under 4 minutes:
Conclusion
As I mentioned from the start, refined and useful innovations like Diigo deserves better scrutiny from the top media outlets. There is no shortage of articles on TechCrunch or other about what I would call "entertainment" startups and sites. Perhaps our fascination with fast and hyped news has outgrown our desire for information about serious applications, but I don't think so. I think in many cases we are being fed what someone else wants us to utilize in much the same way fast food is presented to the consumer. This is a shame, as we thought the advent of Web 2.0 was going to be about value and the user experience. Personally, I would like to experience a little more Diigo type utility and a little less Twitter.
Article by Phil Buttler from Phil Butler Unplugged. Submit your thoughts - click here!
