#11

Thing 11 encompasses rating and recommending sites or links to specific content via social media.  This is something I've only done on occasion (primarily on Facebook) with the public (well, my public "friends"), probably because I figure people can filter out and find whatever they're looking for themselves.  But, this is incredibly useful for bringing an issue or topic to someone's attention who may not be aware of it, or sharing something so completely off-the-wall or amusing that you just can't help yourself.  But, doing this via Facebook, is much more of a direct interaction than the following four sites I checked out.

I looked over Mixx, Digg, Newsvine, and Reddit, and opted to try Mixx, based on its readability.  (I typically gravitate towards that which is cleanly designed, user-friendly, and aesthetically appealing -- Mixx topped the list for me here.)  Mixx was easy to register with (using my Google account), and recommending a New York Times story I found on Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez's recent performance with the band Junip was similarly easy.  However, I am not sure that I find recommending a story on Mixx to be quite as useful as simply perusing Mixx for news.  (I was the first person to "mixx" that article, and I'm sure I will be only one of a few, at most.)  Where I believe this would be a more profound location for friends and others I associate with to recommend it would be on Facebook.  Those people know me and can see precisely something I recommended; whereas, if I recommend something on Mixx, it merely shows as being recommended by one person.  I'm not sure accessing it via Mixx would garner any more traffic for the article than simply being on the NY Times' website would.

Sites such as the four listed I believe are most useful when it comes to breaking news or issues regarding a more serious, newsworthy topic.  Of course, that does not preclude folks from recommending a story regarding the latest Kardashian hubris, but users can filter through those recommendations as well.