Beginners Guide to StumbleUpon

Several people asked me about StumbleUpon after I posted my article on the Power of StumbleUpon. I'm certainly not an expert, but based on my experience so far, here are some Basic Tips on How to use StumbleUpon:

StumbleUpon uses a toolbar (available for Firefox and Internet Explorer) that you add to your browser and use for surfing the web and rating pages on websites. Once you've downloaded the toolbar, you can use the Stumble! button to "stumble upon" random web pages. Except they're not random.

The pages you stumble upon have been selected by SU based on recommendations from other users with the same interests. You select the topics you are interested in when you create your profile, and they can be updated anytime by selecting the stumbling option in your preferences page. In turn, if you give these pages the thumbs up or down (via toolbar buttons), that information will also be used by SU to help select pages to show you and other stumblers. After you give a page a thumbs up, be sure to click on the review button (quote cloud on the toolbar) to share your thoughts.

You can rate any web page you visit; not just those shown to you by SU. Anytime you find an interesting page as a result of surfing the web or doing a search on a topic, give it a thumbs up. If you are the first person to recommend a page, you will need to fill out a brief discovery form to review the page, select the topic it belongs under and label it with additional tags. Be sure to use an appropriate topic and tags so the page will be shown to people who are interested in that subject.

Not only is SU a great way to find new sites and share interesting sites with other people, but there are also several community features, including friends and forums. By adding other stumblers as friends, you are subscribing to their pages. This is one more way for StumbleUpon to select pages that are shown to you when you click on the Stumble! button. You are limited to 200 friends at one time, so you should carefully choose friends based on the pages they like, and the interests that you share. People who subscribe to your pages are called fans. The more fans you have, the more hits your pages will get.

Tips for finding people you can add as friends:

• When you stumble upon a page you like, click on the page review button to see who gave it the thumbs up and check out the rest of their pages. Do you like their pages? Add them as a friend.

• Search for tags/key words that interest you and find others who have the same interests. You can see their profile, and the pages they like, by clicking on their picture, or avatar. If you like their pages, add them as friends so their pages will come up when you hit the Stumble! button.

• When you search for a specific tag, you also have the option of subscribing to it by clicking on the "I like pages about xxxxx" on the right side of the page. Pages with these tags will show up when you stumble and you will find more people with similar interests.

• Look at your fans, (the people who added you as a friend), do they have pages that you think are interesting?

• Visit the forums and get involved in conversations on the topics that interest you.

Tips for increasing your fan base:

• Tell people about yourself in your profile. The more people know about you, the better chance you have of finding common interests. When you fill out your interests in My Preferences, you will be linked to other members with those same interests.
  

• Use your toolbar... a lot. Use it with normal web surfing, or with the Stumble! button. Whenever you see a page you like, give it a thumbs up. The more pages you give the thumbs up to, the more people will see your picture/avatar on the page reviews. Hopefully they will follow it to your profile and add you as a friend. Also, the more interesting pages you have, the more likely they will want to add you as a friend.
  

• Be sure you only give a thumbs up to sites that you find interesting and think other people will like, too.
  

• Use as many tags as possible to describe the page you are giving a thumbs up to, this will help expose the page to even more people. Just make sure the tags are appropriate and match the content of the page.

• Join groups with shared interests, and get involved in discussions on the forums. This will give more people the chance to see your profile. You can join up to 63 groups.

• Introduce yourself to other stumblers by sending them messages.

• Give a thumbs up to other stumblers you like. When you are on their page, you can give the stumbler a thumbs up and write a review of their pages. As with other pages, people can click the review button on the toolbar and see other people who like that stumbler, and read their reviews.
  

• Take advantage of the friends option. When you add someone as a friend, they might look at your profile to see you who are. If they share your interests, they might reciprocate and add you as a friend.

If you have your own website, you can recommend your own pages, but do so sparingly. Make sure you have several fans, pick your best articles, and don't recommend too many at once. Again, the more fans you have, the more hits your pages will get. You can also add a StumbleUpon button to your site, linking to your pages on SU, and there are buttons you can add to each article, giving people the option to give it a thumbs up.

If you have any tips you would like to add, please do so in the comments area. If you have a good story about an SU experience, please share that as well.

For more information, check out the StumbleUpon Guide for Getting Started.