I'm working on a forum-like webapp where I'd like to allow users to favourite an item so that they can keep track of it, and also so that others can see how many times an item's been favourited.

The problem is, I'm unsure on the best practices for databases, which includes this situation.

I have two ideas in my head on how to do this:

1. Add an extra column to the user table and store things like so: "|2|5|73|"
2. Add an extra table with at least two columns, one for referencing an item, the other for referencing a user.

I feel uncomfortable about going for the second method as it involves an extra table, and potentially more queries would be required. Perhaps these beliefs aren't an issue, as I have little understanding of databases beyond simply working with table layouts and basic queries.