I find it appealing to be able to access my bookmarks anywhere (as, obviously, I am a somewhat selfish person who enjoys technologies that make my life easier and my work more efficient); I can locate excellent professional websites at home and scurry back to them at work (fabulous!), without spending fifteen minutes on google trying to retrace my steps!
But, moreover, I think if more and more groups and individuals took advantage of del.icio.us, research (for pleasure, for profit, for school, for work) could become an even more engaging, socially beneficial, and productive exercise. For librarians, investigating how our cyberspace users engage with information in a digital environment and how they conceive of its usefulness, determine quality, and conceptually categorize information can open up another sphere from which we can improve our services (both in person and through disparate technologies).
Nevertheless, I think it is somewhat telling that some of the most frequent tags include: blogs, blogging, opensource, linux, java, programming, software, and web design. Right now it seems as though del.icio.us is used primarily by the techno-literate and techno-front-runners (come on...linux, java, opensource...these are not the average men and women on the street). I think if we give del.icio.us some time, it will be an incredibly diverse and rich social environment of resource sharing, and shared resource discovery.
I could probably spend a little too much time on technorati searching for cool blogs (to again, spend way too much time indulging myself in), but found it to be a surprisingly interesting network through which to build and sustain communities, whether those focus on political affiliations, professional or personal interests, recreational pursuits, etc.
