StumbleUpon is an interesting tool that takes aspects of social bookmarking and wraps them up in a neat little button that will take you to a random site matching your interests. If you have ever sat in front of your television and surfed through channels trying to find something interesting to watch, that is what StumbleUpon provides for the internet: a button you can click to surf through sites looking for something interesting.
To use StumbleUpon, you will need to install a toolbar onto your web browser. This is a simple and painless process, so don't let the idea of installing something onto your browser keep you from the fun. You will also be asked to set up a profile on the StumbleUpon site where you will pick your interests. This lets the toolbar know what sites you might find interesting.
This process takes less than five minutes, and once done you can start stumbling. The toolbar comes with a stumble button on the far left side. You simple click this, and you will stumble to a random page that matches your interest. And, much like surfing channels on the TV, if you don't like the site it takes you to, simply click the button again.
What's in it for me?
StumbleUpon is not to be confused with the standard social news site where you can easily search for what is popular, what is new, or something very specific. It is a surfing tool, not a search tool.
If you are like me, you have certain websites you visit on a regular basis. I like to grab my morning coffee, hit Yahoo to check the headlines, browse the sports section, read a few blogs, and then go to some message boards where I am a regular. Sometimes, this process takes me through both my morning cups of coffee, and sometimes I finish the rounds before I finish my first cup.
That's where StumbleUpon comes in handy. I can grab my second cup of coffee, and start stumbling. I have humor, sports, books and movies as interests, so there is always plenty of websites for me to stumble through.
Is that all?
StumbleUpon is well worth it just for the stumbling feature, but you can also choose to participate by rating sites with a thumbs up or thumbs down, writing reviews for sites, and adding new sites. Participation is made simple by the toolbar. If you stumble upon a funny site, and it makes you laugh, you simply click the thumbs up button to give the website your stamp of approval.
StumbleUpon also has some social networking features where you can add friends and stumble through pages they submitted. When you click on the friends button, you will be taken to the StumbleUpon friends page where you will be greeted with a list of suggested friends who have similar interests.
But StumbleUpon isn't to be confused with a social networking site. There are better places to meet people with similar interests. The social networking features of StumbleUpon are best used to help teach the tool how to stumble better by adding friends who go to the same type of sites you like to visit.