Near the end of January I received a message from a contact on the Ma.gnolia social bookmark site. I get messages on occasion from other members, but this one was a bit different. This contact was writing to thank me for posting a particular bookmark. It was the right link, at the right time, and something he had been looking to find for quite a while. I find links from people all the time; some interesting, many humorous, and some are just the right link. In this case though, he went out of his way to send me a message thanking me for contributing the link. It’s a good feeling to know that something you did, even if just a routine thing, was helpful to someone else. I think this is a true definition of what online communities should do.
Today is Ma.gnolia’s 1 year birthday, and to celebrate this milestone they released a new feature. It’s a small feature that I over looked when it was initially published, but it makes perfect sense in the context of the story I recounted above. The new feature is accessed next to other users links where you will now see an option to “Give Thanks”. This feature allows you to send a kudo to the person who posted the link, just to let them know you found it helpful. Only the person who posted the bookmark you are giving thanks for will see that you clicked the link, but it is a great way to let people know that you a) appreciate the link and b) would like to see more links of the type. It’s a very subtle and very powerful extension of the Ma.gnolia community. I am excited about this new feature, and look forward to giving thanks the next time I find a bookmark useful.
Tags: ma.gnolia, social, bookmark, birthday, new feature