Traditionally, a bookmark is used to hold the page of a book, or a magazine. Online bookmarks are essentially the same thing. They hold a web page so that it can be found quickly and easily at a later time. Many internet users enjoy the use of social bookmarking services.

People who frequently visit some of the top social media sites often keep a social media bookmark list. Social media bookmark lists help to keep the bookmarks organized. Bookmarks are saved, sorted and organized into the social media bookmark lists and then can be quickly accessed at any time.

In social bookmarking systems, the links to the web pages are saved for easy access. The bookmark does not save the references themselves, just the links to the pages where they can be found. For social bookmarking, internet users can save the links to the web pages that they want to share, remember or just be able to save in case they would like to find the information again at a later date. The bookmarks are usually public, but can be saved privately and shared only with specific people or groups.