Stumbleupon is technically a social bookmarking site, similar to and competition for Digg, del.icio.us, Reddit, etc. Not Fark though, Fark is a place unto itself, the way news headlines should be written and a weekly must read for people with a sense of humor.

But I really like Stumble most of all, and it is so much handier and neater than any of the others. I’ve previously waffled on about people promoting and sharing each other’s content (content that you like and think are worth reading), and Stumble is one way to help do this, either by submitting a site or adding your vote.

Numbers equals quality - the way of democracy.

But you actually don’t need an option like the Share This button I’ve got at the bottom of my posts on teh website, all you need is to open a Stumble account and install the toolbar. Now, you can stumble any site, image or video, whether it’s got an option button or not. I use Internet Explorer, so my toolbar is at the top, with options such as “I like” and “I don’t like”. And that’s it, I see something interesting somewhere on the web and I like It. It is so, so easy to use.

Like other bookmarking sites, you can browse around Stumble and find other people you can become fans of; this is like endorsing them and saying you like the stuff they link to. Which is of course the reason you become fans, because you like their link salads, and Stumble gives you the opportunity to follow link salads in one neat, easily manageable place. Each stumble profile also has its own feed, for people who like what a specific person is linking to but don’t want to sign up for Stumble.

But wait - there’s more!

For the socially inclined, there are also several truckloads of discussion groups. I think you need to add a profile picture or avatar to be allowed to post to them, though, but there are some interesting looking groups out there.

But wait - there’s more! And this is why I like Stumble and have become a fan of the site itself:

I use it like a library to collect stuff. Unlike my Google Reader (where I’ve discontinued the sharing option because it’s a nightmare to manage and track down anything), Stumble displays stuff in a really, really neat way. I’ve added my profile to the right sidebar of teh website, so that should give you an idea. I prefer the grid display, because it’s easier for me to scan through when I try to find something, but there’s also a List display option.

And that’s the thing -some of these are just cool stuff that amuse me for a moment, but a lot of what I stumble are sites and images that I want to return to later, and this is how I collect them all in one place. So, when I want to check up something, re-read an older piece that I can remember reading, am doing research, etc, this is where I collect all my links to.

I can’t say what other people use Stumble for (probably to find the most interesting stuff on the net), but this is what I use it for — wholly selfishly building a library of links that I need to access again in future. It’s all about me, you see.

In any case, for writers looking for inspiration and whatnot, this might be a useful tool. For researchers or journalists, again this could be a very handy tool, maintaining a neat online reference section for yourself (yes, I do actually use it, going back often to check up on something).

But Stumble also gives you the option to stumble, either articles, videos or images. You click the button and it randomly takes you to a page someone submitted (you can tell it to take you only to pages of certain categories if you want). It looks like you can “teach” the tool, liking&disling what it displays so it gets an idea of what you want to see more of and what you don’t want to see, ever again.

Using the random stumble option, is how I came across these pictures:

Young Gallery - photos of wildlife;

Earthlights;

Paris — wait for it to load, and then scroll left to right and back again, it’s a little freaky;

These are lovely, my favourite is The Backpacker. (by Eric Gustafson)

This is just such a handy tool, this Stumble thing. Highly recommended.

• ljxp_comments: 0
• ljxp_privacy: 0
• ljID: 570
• ratings_users: 0
• ratings_score: 0
• ratings_average: 0
• views: 3

Tags: Digg, Eric Gustafson, Reddit, select, social bookmarking, stumbleupon