Social Networking Showdown: StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is the ultimate tool for web surfers. You add the toolbar to your web browser and whenever you’re bored, you can just click the button and land on a random website. It’s actually pretty ingenious, and I hope the developers are making a ton of money. You can, of course, customize your stumbling so that you only land on sites relevant to certain topics (like sports or business or cooking).

But the real draw to StumbleUpon for bloggers is that you can submit your own site’s posts. There’s no guarantee that you’ll become popular, but when you do, you’ll see traffic from StumbleUpon for…years. Literally. It isn’t like other social bookmarking websites where you see a huge spike that drops off fairly quickly. StumbleUpon keeps drawing people to your site forever.

You should use StumbleUpon if…

…you are an Internet user and enjoy quality content. The great thing about StumbleUpon is that the system has a built-in catch that doesn’t allow people to be spammers. You rate things as you go, and if you submit too much from a single site, you get blocked from further submitting from that site. It keeps everyone in line. In addition, because users are rating sites as good or bad, the crap is continuously getting cut. Try it out – you’ll be surprised as you start to stumble just how interesting you’ll find nearly every site you come to.

But that’s talking about StumbleUpon from a stumbler perspective. Should you use the system if you’re a blogger or site owner? Yes, yes, yes! Just be care. As I noted, if you submit too much from just a single site, you’ll get banned from submitting from that site.

How to Best use StumbleUpon

To drive traffic to your website, submit only your best pieces to StumbleUpon. This system thrives with evergreen content, like “The Ten Best Ways to…” and not extremely time-sensitive pieces. Submit your news stories to Digg, Reddit, etc. Submit stories that will remain interesting three months from now to StumbleUpon.

I recommend submitting not just from your site or your network of sites, but from at least 20 different sites around the Internet. It only takes a second to “stumble” something when you have the toolbar installed. Also, become a user and regularly using the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” rating system.

StumbleUpon isn’t just about social bookmarking; it can also be used for networking. There’s room to make a profile, and as you use the system, you’ll find other interesting websites. You can become part of their community, hopefully enticing them to become part of yours. It’s just a great way to find people.

Disadvantages of StumbleUpon

There are some problems with the system. Maybe I just haven’t studied it enough, but it seems slightly random as to which submissions get super popular and which just seem to fizzle. Really, though, that can be seen as an advantage as well, since it means that people can’t work the system.

Another disadvantage, however, is that people have “submission rings.” They all submit from one another’s sites so that stuff gets popular without them having to worry about being banned. However, this is a common problem with social bookmarking, not just a problem on StumbleUpon.

I’m not a huge fan of the interface, to be honest. The toolbar is amazing, but beyond that, it can be confusing to figure out where to find stuff.

Really, though? I’m in love with StumbleUpon. There are a few flaws, but they’ve been really good at listening to feedback and making changes to create a better tool. Use it. Love it.

Summary

Use StumbleUpon if…

…you’re an Internet user who occasionally likes to surf.

…you want to connect with like-minded people also running websites.

…you write content that is evergreen in nature.

Do Not Use StumbleUpon if…

…you want a place to submit news stories.

…you intend to submit every single story you write.

This post is part of the Social Neworking Showdown here at Bizzia. Check back throughout September for more posts about social networking sites.