I follow lots of really smart people on Twitter, and those folks like to share links to great content. Unfortunately, I do not always have time to engage with a blog post no matter how well written it is.

Scarcity of time is not new—it has always been a concern—and the traditional ‘cure’ is bookmarking. On your computer(s), you probably bookmark websites that you frequently visit in addition to websites you would like to come back to.

The downside of traditional bookmarking is that it is device-dependent: your bookmarks on one browser will not sync with your bookmarks on another browser (let alone another computer). Some hacks and workarounds make this possible, but it’s not fundamentally built in.

Let’s take a look at two bookmarking services: Delicious and Instapaper.

Delicious

Delicious (formerly del.icio.us) is a social bookmarking tool. On an individual level, Delicious offers a cloud-based approach to bookmarking in that you can add a link to the service and access that link from anywhere. On a social level, Delicious provides bookmarking trends that allow visitors to explore and discover new content.

Though the exploration concept sounds great, in practice it has been noted that people usually tag and organize their bookmarks for internal archiving. That is, they’re not always tagging to benefit the collective Delicious audience.

Instapaper

Instapaper is a newer service that started as one person’s side project. Rather than focus on the social aspect of bookmarking and tagging, Instapaper’s emphasis is on presentation. With one ‘Read Later’ click, Instapaper snags the content from the page I’m viewing and presents it in a clean, comfortable, readable format. It fits snugly in the ‘I want to read this later’ space of bookmarking.

Changing the presentation is GREAT for users, but potentially upsetting for content producers who rely on advertising (since you’re literally shifting that content from one place to another). Instapaper pseudo-solves this by allowing publishers to opt out. I have yet to come across an opted-out piece of content, though.

Instapaper in action

Here’s a Michigan State University news story on news.msu.edu:

And here is the same article on Instapaper:

Instapaper’s steadfast focus on content presentation is what makes the service so useful. It looks awesome on my high-resolution display, and that friendly look continues as I shift devices (I will usually catch up on a few articles via my phone while lying in bed). Those of us on our phone’s native web browser, however, could benefit from responsive design techniques.

Delicious versus Instapaper

Though some folks believe there is conflict between Delicious and Instapaper, I disagree. For the moment, the services fit different contexts of use. Delicious is great as a resource-archiving tool and okay as a content discovery engine. Instapaper is perfect for reading something later, and its developer is beginning to add social features.

In the long run, content presentation and social discovery are the most valuable aspects of bookmarking services. A single application that provides both (done well) would be a tremendous benefit to the web.