The days of the in-browser favourites where long gone and replaced by the online bookmark site such as del.icio.us. At-least that is what I thought two years ago, when I first started using del.icio.us. But these days I notice that I use computer-related bookmarks again, for the obvious reason that they are computer related, my del.icio.us account is over-filled with bookmarks, my tag-cloud is exploding (I should really start a project to tag words in my tag-cloud with more general tags - something like sub-folders) and it takes hard thinking to find something back again. So why use del.icio.us when I can save the bookmarks right on the pc where I need it the next time, and in the browser I’m probably going to use. I have to admit that I do work with different computers and have to test websites with different browsers, so for me its more logical to save work related internet explorer bug-fix related bookmarks on my work pc in internet explorer.

And not only I keep my browser and computer related bookmarks out of del.icio.us, I notice that I find it much easier to de-central some of my other bookmarks too, I like to favourite pictures in Flickr, to favourite video’s in Youtube, to digg site’s in Digg and save interesting blogs in Bloglines (not knowing if i ever going to read them again). And the same thing is about friends, and people I know, I connect to completely different people on LinkedIn as on Hyves, and Myspace I mostly use to bookmark bands that I should listen again. My Gtalk has other contact person than my Msn and so on..

For me it helps to get me focussed, just as the multiple desktops in linux (and upcoming OS X) I only see those bookmarks and friends, when I’m in a surrounding where I’m open to see it/them. Perhaps this is my solution to not be drowned in data.

So how about you, do you keep all your bookmarks central, and do you like it that way, or do you think decentralising is the way of the future. Or do you have perhaps other ways to keep track of your past media consumption?