On Dec. 16 news rumbled across the Web that Yahoo was shutting down Delicious. Rumors spread. People cursed Yahoo. And a number of folks (raising my hand now) started jumping ship.

Turns out the rumors were only half true. Yes, Yahoo didn’t see a fit for Delicious underneath its brand umbrella, but it was adamant about finding a safe haven for it outside Yahoo.

But, that didn’t much matter to me. I had been a Delicious user for quite a while. And, while I liked the tool and used it often (probably bookmark 5-10 posts a day), I was always left feeling like there was a better tool for me out there somewhere.

As a result of the Delicious rumor mill, I think I’ve found that tool. For now.

Diigo.

After quickly importing my Delicious bookmarks (note: unfortunately, the process wasn’t so quick for everyone–had one friend who I believe is still waiting on Diigo to import), I started playing around with the new tool and found a number of useful features that has helped my “speed to information.”

Here are five reasons Diigo has worked for me in the last five weeks:

* More useful browser toolbar/Chrome extension. This was always one of my biggest beefs with Delicious–I just didn’t like the toolbar (for Firefox). Diigo’s toolbar for Firefox is off-the-charts good. It not only has the requisite bookmark functionality, it also provides a great highlighter tool and an easy button to share via email, Twitter or Facebook. So, I don’t have to leave my browser to share on my social networks–nice. It also provides a nice sidebar (similar to Delicious) on the left-hand side so I can access my entire Diigo library seamlessly. The Chrome extension (which is what I currently use), is pretty solid, too. While not as robust as the Firefox toolbar, the Chrome extension allows me to bookmark, highlight and share easily–which is really all that matters (in this case, less is actually more). It also gives me the opportunity to add “Sticky Notes” to posts, which is nice for marking up pages with thoughts you might have as you read (great for blogging, by the way). Overall, the Diigo extension has been fantastic so far.

* Save favorite tweets. Admittedly, I haven’t played around much with this functionality yet, but I love the potential. Traditionally, I haven’t been big on favoriting tweets. Mostly because there’s no easy way to search and sift through them. But, if I can save favorite tweets in Diigo and tag them–boom, they’re instantly searchable. Thinking that could have legs from a blogging standpoint–favorite and save tweets I want to use in future posts. And, from a brand perspective–favorite and save tweets from a chat that you want to follow up on in the next few days. I can definitely see personal and brand implications here. Again, something Delicious simply does not provide (as far as I can tell).

* Mark posts to “read later.” Simple, yet extremely useful tool for the browsing/reading process. You can find it right in the toolbar (unfortunately, it doesn’t pop up in the Chrome extension). For someone that tries to keep up with more than 180 blogs each day, this tool can help me not just bookmark, but also flag those posts I really want to dig in to later. Nice little add by Diigo (now please add it to the Chrome extension!).

* Organize by list. Another very useful piece of functionality–similar to the “tag bundle” feature on Delicious. I just like Diigo’s approach a little more. I think it’s easier to organize. For me, it lets me organize by bookmarks by topic (blogging, statistics, infographics, etc.), client (haven’t started yet) and geography. I’m planning to work on my lists a bunch in the weeks ahead in an effort to hyper-organize my bookmarks.

* Easy “share” button. I LOVE this functionality for two key reasons. 1) It allows me to stay in my browser–I don’t have to hop between networks or third-party apps to share posts and links. 2) It allows me to send posts to clients, partners and friends again, without leaving the browser, and with the ability to add context to the share. Maybe the most useful piece of functionality Diigo offers over Delicious for me personally.

* Learn from others and build community by creating groups. Another piece of functionality that is similar to what Delicious offers (network), but just not quite the same. Again, I think there’s potential upside here for people and brands. For individuals, what about creating collaborative communities with like-minded individuals as a way to share everything you’re reading on the Web? Already thinking of potentially creating a HAPPO community here. For brands, wouldn’t this be a great way for subject matter experts within your company to flag articles and posts they think are interesting as a way to spark blog post ideas across the organization? Remember you can create “private” groups, so this is an option for companies who might like this kind of thing to be behind a closed door. Lots of options here.

* Making the transition from Delicious to Diigo easy. Granted, they weren’t exactly prepared for the influx of users from the Delicious news, but they have set up a page that lays out the transition process pretty well here.

What about you? Have you tried out Diigo yet? What do you think so far?