Please enlighten me about social bookmarking sites...

[Urban Ranger]

Sites such as digg and del.icio.us (oh man what an atrocious colour scheme)

All I can see is they leech off other sites and members for contents... and they make $$$ on that?

So what is the reason for their popularity?

[Aeson]

People like sharing things they think are interesting with other people. It makes them interesting by proxy. It's also an implied aspect of friendship to share experiences with each other.

So it appeals to people's self-importance and desire for companionship.

[Verto]

I like digg because I can find a wide variety of articles, etc, very quickly. I don't frequiet the other site you mentioned (and refuse to type it out). Digg users don't make money for submitting stories, though.

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Verto
Digg users don't make money for submitting stories, though.

I'm pretty sure he's saying the sites themselves make money off the members, while the members seemingly do the work. That's the basis for his questioning why the members do the work.

[snoopy369]

Isn't that the basis for the entire free internet pretty much? Youtube, Myspace, whatever...

Someone has to pay the bills...