During Practical Ed Tech Live last Thursday afternoon I answered a request for a comparison of Diigo and Google Keep as alternatives to Delicious. The video of that explanation was a little muffled by some background noise so I decided to write out my explanation of the key differences between Diigo and Google Keep.
Social Sharing
Diigo was designed for sharing bookmarks. You can create groups in which group members share some or all of their Diigo bookmarks. You can also choose to make all of your bookmarks public so that they can be discovered by others. In fact, discovering other users’ bookmarks might be the best aspect of Diigo.
Google Keep wasn’t originally designed for social sharing of bookmarks. Yes, you can share individual bookmarks, but you cannot share entire collections of bookmarks in one swoop as you can in Diigo.
Annotation
Diigo offers options for highlighting passages of text from a page while bookmarking that page. (The free Diigo plan limits you to 100 highlights). Google Keep doesn’t offer that option in the exact same way. With Google Keep installed in the Chrome web browser you can highlight text then send it to Google Keep with a right-click.
Diigo provides an option for adding sticky notes to pages. Google Keep does not have that option at this time.
Cross-platform Accessibility
Both services are available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Diigo has extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. The only official Keep extension is for the Chrome browser.
Other Considerations
Google Keep is now integrated into G Suite. You can access Google Keep notes/ bookmarks within a Google Document. That means that you can quickly insert your bookmarks into a document.
Diigo has special plans for educators that allow you to manage your students’ Diigo accounts.
Bottom Line
If you’re already using G Suite for Education, I would give the slight edge to Google Keep because of the integration with Google Docs. If you’re not married to G Suite, Diigo has a few more options for you and your students.
