Tutorial: Setting Up An Account at StumbleUpon

by Melanie Nelson on November 9, 2008 · 0 comments

Remember way back in 1994 and 1995 when you actually surfed the ‘net? You could start out at one page and end up in a completely different spot and nothing was actually related. You were just surfing and following along. These days I sometimes find I miss that randomness. Thanks to Google Reader I check the same sites every day. There are days, though, when I want something fresh and new. Something I haven’t seen before. Those are the days I Stumble.

StumbleUpon is a social networking site with a twist: it specifically strives to show you only the sites you’d be interested in seeing. It’s random, yes, but that randomness is based on an algorithm that keeps track of what you like or dislike. The result is fewer sites that waste your time and more sites you’re interested in reading.

To use StumbleUpon, you sign up for an account and choose your interests (e.g., technology, books, crafts, writing, etc.). Don’t worry, you can add or delete interests if they change.

Install the toolbar (you’ll need to use Firefox or IE to use the toolbar; I have a strong preference for Firefox. There is a work-around if you have Safari or Opera). This is what it looks like (it’s unobtrusive):

Setting Your Preferences:

The preferences you choose determine the sites you see when you click the Stumble! button on the toolbar in your browser.

Click on Your Home.
Click My Preferences.
Click My Interests.
Click one of the topics in the left sidebar.
Check all the sub-topics you’re intrested in.
Click Save Preferences. If you click on My Topics you’ll see the topics you chose. You can add and delete topics whenever you like.

Connect with Friends

Click on Your Home.
Click on Friends.
Click on Connect with friends you already know. (You’ll find this link at the top of the right sidebar.)
Select your e-mail provider if it’s listed. If it’s not, you’ll need to contact your friends manually.
Check to make sure your e-mail is correct and enter your password if necessary.
Click Next. You’ll be presented with a page that looks like this:

The default is to show everyone in your mail contacts who is a member of StumbleUpon. This means anyone who has ever sent your e-mail may be in this list (think of all those random comments you receive on your blog!). Go through the list of StumbleUpon members and un-check anyone you don’t know or recognize. Or, if you’re comfortable “friending” all those people, you’re good to go. I prefer to only hang out with people I know or am familiar with online.
Scroll down a little until you see this part of your screen:

This is a list of those people in your contact list who are not part of StumbleUpon. You have the option of inviting them to join. It’s important to note that most people don’t like to be spammed to join a social network. So before you check that Select All button, consider whether your friends will appreciate it.
Click Connect Now.

You can repeat those steps with each of your social media networks (e.g., Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) so you are sure to connect with all your friends if they’re using StumbleUpon.

Tomorrow I’ll explain how to use StumbleUpon to find interesting sites related to your interests and whether StumbleUpon is a good tool for driving traffic to your site.

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