A Review and Introduction to StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a website that provides users with a unique way of surfing the internet. Most people who use the Internet today search for sites using a major search engine, such as Google or Yahoo. They type in a keyword and the search site spits out results based on various criteria. StubleUpon is a site that turns this notion on it's head and makes surfing the Internet a slightly more random experience. It's fun, fresh and an incredible way to waste hours of your day finding things you didn't even know existed on the Internet.

To use StumbleUpon, you simply do to their website and register. You will need to download a small plug-in program that works with your web browser. They have plug-ins for both Explorer and Firefox.

In the process of registering, you tell the system a little about yourself. Do you like music? How about sports? Science, literature, humor, cats, whatever your interests are there is a category for it.

Once you've done this, you're ready to get stumbling. Just activate the web browser plug-in and hit the "Stumble" button. Users submit new sites to the Stumble database and tag them according to what material they have. When you click the Stumble button, the system will take you to a random site that is in their database that is categorized according to what you said you like. If you find a site that is not in the Stumble database, you can "discover" it and submit it to the system for other stumblers to find.

When you are at the site that has been chosen for you, you can vote "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" based on what you think of the site. As you vote this way, the Stumble system learns what you like and refines what sites it sends you to. It also tracks how many people vote a site up or down, and based on those votes, is more of less likely to send other people there. It's like surfing based on what others who share similar interests have.