StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking community. The idea behind social bookmarking is simple: instead of bookmarking your favorite web pages to access them through a browser, only you see them, but mark them [or like them or others] as sites like StumbleUpon. This still keeps your bookmarks, but it also allows others to see what you are interested in.
When you sign up for StumbleUpon, you can create profiles and identify certain categories that are of interest to you. For example, you can choose either Science or Writing. You can also find your friends and follow them, just like you are on Facebook or Twitter. Follow your friends to see which pages they have collected.
What makes StumbleUpon so interesting is that it is a stumbling block. When you go to the main page, you'll see a bar with a "trip" button at the top, along with other typical social media icons such as likes and comments. If you've set up your interests, you can "stumble" them so you can browse the web based on specific categories.
Some of the pages you will be browsing have been classified by StumbleUpon, but many of the pages you see are pages that other users have bookmarked. In fact, when you accidentally find someone's bookmark page, the top toolbar displays a username that you can click to view more of that person's bookmarks page or follow that person.
Some popular websites, such as Mashable or FunnyorDie, have their own StumbleUpon channel and can browse their websites. This is a quick and easy way to filter your favorite websites and still share them with your friends.
You are not limited to sharing your favorite websites on your profile page. The toolbar also allows you to share pages directly on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
For blogs and businesses, the site's submission feature allows you to submit your web page directly to the community as a bookmark. With millions of visitors every day, StumbleUpon is a powerful medium for promoting your brand and doesn't offer the same penalties as other social bookmarking sites. [For example, Reddit will prevent you from submitting new pages if you only submit your own pages.]
Whether you choose to use it for personal entertainment or as a promotion, StumbleUpon will introduce you to pages and websites that you may not see.
Orignal From: StumbleUpon - what it is and how to implement it
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