Whether or not you've given StumbleUpon a thumbs up in the past, new research shows it needs to be on your radar. (Image credit: wow-womenonwriting.com)
Have you ever read something and been completely and totally shocked? I mean, that happens less and less these days because of the proliferation of information online. Or what you might call the Interwebs.
But it happened to me this weekend when I stumbled upon (sorry, that’s my sense of humor and I can’t help it) the fact that the social network StumbleUpon delivers half of U.S. social media traffic. I mean my jaw literally hit the ground. And then I got that “punched in the gut” feeling. It’s the feeling I get when I feel like I just found out a secret that isn’t really secret because everybody already knows it. For somebody who tries really hard to stay up on the latest trends, that feeling sucks.
So what did I do about it? Well, kicked myself a bit and then began integrating StumbleUpon into my online social presence, of course. Here are the steps I took if you too are looking to build your StumbleUpon cred:
1. Set up a StumbleUpon account. A tricky first step, I know. You have to do crazy things like go the StumbleUpon website and sign up. It really is super easy. They even have Facebook integration so you can just sign in with your Zuckerberg credentials and immediately connect with all your Facebook friends through the StumbleUpon interface.
2. Start stumbling. The idea of the site is fairly simple, but still takes a bit of getting used to as anything does. You’ll want to pick your areas of interests and then StumbleUpon will suggest things you might like. But the bigger advantage of the platform, as my friend Amy Taylor pointed out the other day, is to look and see what your friends have recommended so far. That way, the platform basically becomes your own personalized Google. Which, if you think about it, Google is already trying to become with +1′s and social searching add-ons.
3. Add the StumbleUpon toolbar to your Internet browser. This is an absolute must. Because when I initially looked at StumbleUpon, I liked what I saw, but I also saw a big usability glitch. If I was going to have to go back to StumbleUpon.com every time I wanted to like something, this was going to be a pain in the butt. So I needed a way to bookmark the sites I liked when I was on them — see Facebook share and retweet buttons. The StumbleUpon toolbar is the answer. Download that sucker for your favorite browser and recommending a site is literally as easy as clicking the “I like it” button.
4. Get the StumbleUpon plugin for your blog. As is usually the case with blog plugins, there are probably multiple ways to skin a cat. I use WordPress, so I just searched the WordPress plugin database for the best StumbleUpon option and found this one — StumbleMe. There were some other options out there, but this one had the best look and feel without having to do much customization or coding. Once you install the plugin and activate it, you should have a new StumbleUpon social share button on your blog like the one I have now (see below).
So that’s all there is to it. You may have taken these steps a couple years back. And if so, my only question is: “Why didn’t you tell me about StumbleUpon?!?” Kidding of course. But seriously, this was a big wake-up call to me that maybe I’ve been ignoring content curation social networks like this one, Digg and Reddit too much in general.
What do you think? We’ll be discussing StumbleUpon and other curation platforms during Tuesday night”s #pr20chat on Twitter at 8 p.m. EST. Hope you can join us! How about a little pre-chat conversation in the comments?
[...] 2. Start stumbling. The idea of the site is fairly simple, but still takes a bit of getting used to as anything does. You’ll want to pick your areas of interests and then StumbleUpon will suggest things you might like. But the bigger advantage of the platform, as my friend Amy Taylor pointed out the other day, is to look and see what your friends have recommended so far. That way, the platform basically becomes your own personalized Google. Which, if you think about it, Google is already trying to become with +1′s and social searching add-ons. Justin Goldsborough does a great job of reminding me why I need to get back to StumbleUpon. Read his full article via justincaseyouwerewondering.com [...]