Social bookmarking Sites - StumbleUpon!

While search engines are still evolving, a new breed of recommendation engines have emerged to keep you hooked to the Internet.

WHEN you begin moving beyond the default home page (MSN, Yahoo, Google etc) and start seeing more uses for the net, you will at some point or the other stumble upon StumbleUpon.com!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon can be, depending on how you look at it, labeled as either the biggest time waster out there or the most useful way to find new and interesting sites. In any case, when you are fed up with work and want a quick escape use StumbleUpon. This site falls into the category of what is known as a recommendation engine. Go to StumbleUpon and register for a new account (Yes, there is no other way! You do need to register - tedious as it is).



Then download and install the StumbleUpon toolbar for your browser — currently only Firefox and Internet Explorer are supported.Once done you are ready to start stumbling! Click on the ‘Stumble!’ button and your browser will take you to a new site. StumbleUpon has millions of sites in its database and what is assured is that (in all probability) you will find the site intriguing, interesting, absorbing and entertaining. You don’t agree? No problem. Stumble again!

StumbleUpon is a vast directory of user recommended sites under various categories. There are more than 200-300 categories though at present you cannot select more than 127 categories at a time. Based on the categories of interest you select StumbleUpon will take you to various random sites within each category. For each site you visit, you can give a vote: that you like it, that you hate it (thumbs up, thumbs down buttons) or ignore voting altogether. StumbleUpon keeps a record of all the sites you have visited you’re your profile so that you can revisit them whenever you want to. You can also filter them by those which you liked and view only those sites.

As with most such sites these days, StumbleUpon is also a community oriented, social networking site. Your account gives you access to a set of tools and features that is personalized to reflect your browsing profile. Based on your past ‘stumbles’ StumbleUpon will suggest groups and other like-minded stumblers. You can visit pages they liked and caste your own vote on those sites too. If you particularly like (or hate!) a site you can even write a review about it which will be made available to other stumblers. If you find a page that particularly catches your eye, you can share the page with a friend – via email. Import your list of contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL or enter their email addresses manually, select those you want to invite and send them an invitation.

Those who are already stumblers will be added to your friends list. The rest will be send invitations to join StumbleUpon. You can also look up the millions of other stumblers for similarities of interest, browse their profiles and even send them a message. You also have a “network” page that will show things of interest. This will keep changing as your friends list grows and you browse and vote on more sites.

Category: Featured , Social