LUIGIDOLLOSA

10754903

DEL.ICIO.US

1.] The “Bookmark Organizer”

Schachter’s del.icio.us is basically a site that utilizes ‘tagging’ for swift navigation of bookmarks between collaborative workspaces. It allows a pool of website clients to view other individual’s bookmarks by similarity; this brings about organization of URL’s of interest between web surfers. It promotes interaction of thousands of online web enthusiasts to share information and interests, as well, aided enormously by the concept of tagging, a tool that enables web addresses to be represented or described for convenient indexing purposes. Let’s just say that with del.icio.us, organized browsing is made in entire possibility. It is one of a kind bookmarking service that stemmed from another typical start-up root- a personal need. He, Schachter, himself was experiencing difficulty due to his seemingly large accumulation of 20,000 bookmarks of which were inn disorganization. It was in this troublesome instance that he acquired the idea of organizing his bookmarks for more convenient search, organization, and navigation. The tagging principle was introduced to this service. It was indeed a personal product at first. He built a system for better organization of his bookmarks. What had been a personal benefit tool turned out in the later run a tool that many global web users took advantage of. del.icio.us had become a rampant service to the general user-base public that he was prompted to extract a business opportunity from it. The introduction of tagging not only became a widespread technique for this bookmarking service but was also applied in other applications as well (just like in multiply). Yahoo saw the immense potential of del.icio.us that it acquired it for a very large monetary amount of thirty million US dollars.

2.] The power of word of mouth

The reader is insisted to bear in mind that a large portion of del.icio.us success was instigated by word of mouth. The word was spread rapidly (like cancer). The propagation of the good news of bookmarking organization paved way for del.icio.us to achieve its stellar status on the Web 2.0 era. The Tagging concept was a contagious technique that users were pretty much convinced of del.icio.us capability to provide the solution of mega-browsing. Word of mouth is the reason of the del.icio.us sensation.

3.] Start-up Freedom

Schachter as I have read, self-funded himself at first. However, there comes a point in start-ups that scaling is indispensable for the service to further be available to users and consumers. He was funded, but this was a meager short-lived funding, for the original development of del.icio.us was from his own building of the project on the side. Schachter expresses his convictions of the joys of being away of outside venture capitalists. There is freedom and control for your very own intellectual property. The fortunate matter for del.icio.us was that it already spread amazingly to user channels, thereby creating an instant user-base. This attracted both VC’s and of course future company acquisition. Yahoo also acquired them in the end.