StumbleUpon: Never Surf Alone
Filed Under episode, fun, how-to, screencast, social, stumbleupon, tutorial
Episode 5 -
Though many people have come to trust Google’s ability to sort out the web, we still have one problem:
While we all appreciate Google’s enabling us to find an article on organic soy-free bird feed, there are times that we just want to peruse a more general topic, like “Self-improvement”. With over 2.5 million results and mostly businesses on the top results, how can we “discover” some quality information?
Well, you StumbleUpon it of course!
StumbleUpon is a service that lets you, in their own words, “Channel surf the internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar to find great websites, videos, photos and more based on your interests. StumbleUpon learns what you like and makes better recommendations.”
It is also community-driven and has over 2.5 million members! Well what do you know!? 2.5 million pages, 2.5 million members. Maybe we can figure this Internet-thing out!
There are 2 major benefits to using StumbleUpon:
- Previewed Sites: StumbleUpon takes what it knows about you (you tell it what you’re interested in) and what other users liked gave a “thumbs up” to and delivers sites it thinks you will like. When you start rating sites yourself (thumbs up or down), Stumble takes notice and “learns” what kind of sites to serve you. Oh… and it works pretty good!
- 5-star Results: Another cool feature is that, if you want it to, StumbleUpon inserts a 5-star rating system into your search engine results! So when your sifting through Google results, you can see which sites users liked.
Video: To see visual examples of the steps in this article, watch the video at the top of this page.
Getting Started:
The first thing you need to do is get an account and download the toolbar. Both IE and Firefox are supported. Click the link below to download it now:
(Firefox is used in these examples, but you should be able to configure IE similarly) Once you have the toolbar installed in Firefox (remember to restart the browser) you might want to add the Stumble button to your toolbar so that you can show/hide the toolbar at will to save space while you are not using it.
- Right-click in a blank area on your Firefox toolbar and select “customize”
- Drag the StumbleUpon button onto your toolbar, wherever you’d like it to be (see video)
Alright, now we’re ready to go!
Click the “Start Stumbling” button on your toolbar and type in your user name and password. After you’ve signed-in, you’re ready to start stumbling.
If you haven’t already, make sure to go to “preferences” on the StumbleUpon website to setup your “interests” in the “stumbling” tab.
Stumbling (excerpts from StumbleUpon Site):
Stumble!
- Click the
Stumble! icon on your toolbar. Stumbleupon will send you sites and pages based on the Topics that you choose. Stumble! as much as you want. Stumbleupon has millions of sites in its databases, all submitted and recommended by other Stumblers. There is a drop-down menu (beside the icon) that allows you to Stumble! in many different ways (more on this in the FAQ).
Exercise your thumbs!
- As you Stumble! you, click the thumbs
to tell the system what you like (or dislike). = I like this! (send me more like this, please!) = I don’t like this! (don’t send me any more pages like this, thank you!) Made a mistake? No problem! Simply click the same thumb again to un-thumb the page, or click the opposite thumb to change your rating.
Have your say!
- When you Stumble! a page or site, first thumb it, then click on
to see reviews & comments made by other Stumblers, and to add one of your own. On the Reviews page, click on: 
Add your own review and tag the page for future reference (more about tagging in the Help resources). Type your comment into the Review box, then press: 
Try it! (You will learn how to delete comments in the next step).
Look at Your Pages
- Click the
icon to see Your Pages – this is where your comments and reviews are displayed for you, and for other stumblers to read. From these pages, you can edit (or delete) your reviews, and Add Comments. When you have more than 10 reviews the oldest is moved off the front page – but you can still use the PREV and NEXT buttons to see ALL of your reviews! There’s another drop-down menu here: 
Stumble! a bit and get some reviews & comments on your pages before exploring this facility (or see how it works when you visit other Stumblers’ pages). Get to know the Toolbar
This guide has shown you the key functions of the toolbar, but there is more to discover. Lots more! Part of the fun of SU is in finding out some of the secrets for yourself, or to meet your fellow Stumblers and ask them How do you do that?! Take a look, too, at this icon on the toolbar: 
It reveals a drop-down menu that contains all sorts of useful stuff, including Toolbar Options which will let you customize your toolbar. You can update your topics here, change your password, and lots more.Extra Tips & Tweaks from Garrett:
- Tools > Toolbar Options > Configuration (tab) >
- This option will add a 5-star rating system to you search results and whether a site has been “Stumbled”
- Tools > Toolbar Options > Configuration (tab) >
- By checking “Not-for-me” StumbleUpon knows to automatically start Stumbling to the next page when you give a page a “thumbs down”
- Tools > Profile Preferences > Settings (link) >
- Make sure to set this option if you’d like to stay out/limit the social aspects of StumbleUpon. (as mentioned below)
Beyond This:
Actually, this service is pretty simple. You can get in as deep as you want. There are Stumbler blogs, favorites, forums, charts, and more… if you want to get involved in the social aspects of StumbleUpon. Also, check the selection of StumbleUpon scripts for Greasemonkey, if you run Firefox, for some cool modifications, such as adding del.icio.us reviews.
Stay tuned for my next article and video episode. For more tips and tricks, sign up for the Official Tech-Bites.com Newsletter! You will be the first to know whenever I release new articles and videos and receive special subscriber only articles and product reviews.
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