Bookmark Your Posts With StumbleUpon

May 25th, 2007 · by Dean · No Comments

When you hear the phrase ‘Social Bookmarking Sites’ many people might automatically think of Digg, del.icio.us or maybe Reddit. Personally I’ve never found those sites particularly good, so I’d like to introduce you to StumbleUpon.

Many of you may already be familiar with this service, but for those who are new to StumbleUpon here is my review of this bookmarking site. Not only is it a great place to find useful web sites, it also focuses on the social aspect too, an area many of it’s rivals fail to deliver on, allowing you to easily connect with fellow stumblers.

Before I go on, here is why I think some of StumbleUpon’s rivals could do better….

…sites like Digg can be great for giving a blog exposure and there is some really good content out there, but I often find readers of that service are too focused on getting the most diggs possible, without really appreciating or pushing good content sites.

I’ve seen people jump on the latest bandwagon and dig posts without even reading the content fully which is a shame really. Having said that, Digg does allow you comment on each item, and you can see who has dug each post, so that can build up a nice social element at times.

Reddit is pretty much similar to Digg. People can comment on each item but when I used this service I couldn’t see any way to see who had voted for or against each post, which seemed a very ‘cloak and daggers’ approach to social bookmarking. I much prefer the openness of Digg where I can see who has dugg posts.

I’ve also used sites like del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia and Furl which all provide pretty good services, but in the end there is something about StumbleUpon that I like, and so I’ve been using it as my main bookmarking sites for several months now.

StumbleUpon provides all the features that the other bookmarking sites offer, such as offering browser toolbar buttons so you can quickly bookmark useful posts. This allows you to easily give a thumbs up or thumbs down to pages you like or dislike. There is also a Stumble button which allows you find web pages that match your interests.

StumbleUpon toolbar

Once you’ve logged into your StumbleUpon account you get various options to play with. You can view your bookmarked pages, view your inbox, visit your friend’s bookmarked pages, and see who has visited your home page, etc. You can also categorize bookmarked posts like del.icio.us offers and view items in a tag cloud.

Options

Your StumbleUpon home page acts like a blog. Not only does it show your latest bookmarked pages, you can also add your own blog entries. In addition you can add categories that you’re interested in, such as Linux, programming, marketing, etc. which enables like minded stumblers to more easily connect with your home page and see what pages you like.

You can also join specialist groups that focus on certain topics, like Ubuntu, WordPress or Firefox.
Groups

StumbleUpon also shows who has visited your home page via the Network option on the home page. This is an excellent way to connect with people who share common interests. I’ve found many excellent sites and fellow stumblers this way.

Summary

Sites like Digg and Reddit can provide excellent opportunities for blogs to gain exposure. But often I find this is short lived. They don’t really focus as much as I would like on the social aspect of bookmarking.

I’ve found StumbleUpon to be an excellent bookmarking site. It has a nice clean user interface that is easy to navigate. There is a real social element to this site and it provides a great way to connect with other people who share similar interests. It has also provided a regular consistent stream of referral traffic to my site far more than any other bookmarking site.

If you’re looking for a new bookmarking site then give it a go. If you’re a del.icio.us user and like the look of StumbleUpon then you can easily import your bookmarks.