MADISON, Wis. -- Channel 3000 has added social bookmarking icons that appear on the left side of a new toolbar that is located directly above the body text of each story on Channel 3000.

These social bookmark sites allow Channel 3000 users to easily share Web links to articles or content that they find useful with a larger community of Internet users.

The sites allow users to "seed," or post links for other Internet users to view. Seeds usually contain a short description of the linked article to assist with browsing.

Social bookmarking sites also commonly allow users to vote for content that they enjoy, find useful or agree with. As articles and seeds garner more favorable votes, they are featured more prominently on the Web site.

The bookmarking Web sites available on Channel 3000, in order from left to right, are: Newsvine, del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook and reddit. Here is a brief overview of each:

Newsvine. Newsvine claims to be the fastest place to read and discuss news stories from every source in the world. As with other social bookmarking Web sites, there are no editors -- the news featured adjusts based on what users find important.

A unique feature of Newsvine is that is gives users the ability to write their own articles, columns and opinions, which can then be discussed and considered alongside articles by the Associated Press and other traditional media outlets.

Click on this link to get a "60 second tour" of Newsvine and its features.

del.icio.us. del.icio.us, pronounced "delicious," is a social bookmarking site that offers users a place to store, share, and discover new Web content.

The Web site features a keyword categorization system that allows users to "tag" their bookmarks with a number of freely chosen descriptive keywords. The tags offer a more customized way to organize bookmarks and can help users discover more Web content of interest to them.

The site also includes a "hotlist" on its home page, which gives users a quick overview of the most popular content and bookmarks at the moment.

To learn more about the site's features, click on this link.

Digg. Digg bills itself as a way to discover and share content from anywhere on the Web -- from the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog.

News stories and Web sites are submitted by members of the Digg community, and then promoted to the front page of Digg.com through a user-based ranking system. If an article or bookmark receives enough "diggs" from users, it advances to a position of prominence on the front page for millions to see. On the other hand, should the story not receive enough diggs, or if enough users report a problem with the submission, the story will remain in a "digg all" area on the site and might eventually be removed.

For more information on Digg and its features, click on this link.

Facebook. Facebook is a social network utility that allows users to connect with friends, share photos and create their own profile, where they can list interests, join groups and share other information.

Facebook is different from the other social bookmarking sites in that it's primarily a social networking site that allows users to also share Internet articles and content. Users must first create a Facebook profile. It's free and anyone can join.

reddit. reddit calls itself a source for "what's new and popular on the Web." Users submit Web links, and other users can vote for whether they like or dislike specific submissions. A user's voters then train a filter that will allow reddit to recommend links filtered to the individual user's tastes.

To learn more about reddit and its features, click on this link.

Each of these free sites basically offer different ways of sharing and interacting with online articles and Web content. While some might find the world of social bookmarking a bit overwhelming at first, these sites can help facilitate some fascinating discoveries and off-the-beaten path stories.