Social bookmarking is the word of today. Social bookmarking services can be counted in the hundreds. The services differ from site to site, but the basic concept of social bookmarking is behind them all. Social bookmarking services are attracting millions of Web users from all over the world. People tag their favorite Web pages, or their own, and tell other Web users about them. Clever webmasters and Internet marketers can start their own social bookmarking service within few minutes and we are going to tell you how.

Del.icio.us is perhaps the most popular social bookmarking service there is today. Tens of pages are tagged every second. Many social bookmarking services are trying to grab a piece of the action and following the heels of del.icio.us. Del.icio.us is fast and simple in design and everyone thinking of starting their own social bookmarking service should keep it simple and fast. Designing and writing software to power social bookmarking service can take time. There aren’t many software packages available to set up a social bookmarking service, but that may change in the near future.

However, if you can’t wait to start your own social bookmarking service then you have the chance to start with open source software that can handle the job very well. Armed with a server and access to MySQL database you can set up the Scuttle software on your Web site. Configuration takes only a minute or two and within few minutes your social bookmarking service is up and running.

We tested Scuttle and we were amazed how fast it worked and how simple it is to use. Bookmarklets are ready to go and also a feature to import your browser based or del.icio.us bookmarks. The only downside is the lack of admin features, but that can be handled from the MySQL administration. Give Scuttle a try and find out how easy it is to start your own social bookmarking service. You can download Scuttle from the Scuttle project page and see it in action at Scuttle.org.