There are approximately 500,000 new members signing up for this site every month. And according to the Zeta Interactive, it is the ninth most popular social media site on the Internet. Similar to how other major social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter were acquired by sponsors, eBay acquired StumbleUpon for about 75 million dollars, but then many of their original investors who backed them initially, pulled out and then the site became worth only 29 million dollars.
Basically, this is just a fun, interactive website that allows its users to connect to other websites and find new information. If you are looking to find something new and addicting, you should stumble onto this site!
So I had never used Stumbleupon until today (figured I couldn't comment on this post if i didn't know what I was talking about) and I am immediately hooked. I love that it personalizes to your interests. The sites interactive quality is so unique that it makes it feel as though the sites are coming to you, to please you. If you'll indulge a metaphor, you are the king of the internet and all of these jesters are coming from various villages to make amuse you. They come to you!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think that the "social networking" part of this site is anything special, in fact I'd say its superfluous and forced. It seems as though, in an attempt to get on the social networking bandwagon, the creators of Stumbleupon added a sharing feature even though it is contradictory to the site's nature. Stumbleupon is about finding sites that cater specifically to you, so you can spend your idle time searching sites that appeal to you. Why share that with others? I don't want other people to share their sites with me! It asks me my interests and sends the appropriate sites my way, sharing seems irrelevant and forced. This site is nothing more than a time-waster, a good one, but a time-waster nonetheless, and the fact is that time-wasters are for when you are alone and bored, not for sharing.