My StumbleUpon About Face
I recently received a message from a friend that went like this – Are you still on SU (StumbleUpon)? I thought that you canceled your account.
Yes, I did cancel my account many weeks ago, but SU gives account holders approximately two weeks to change their minds, a reconsideration time frame for users. More than a week went by without me planning to use SU again, but then I got to thinking: why am I allowing others to dictate how I interact with people online?
Actively Disengaged
Perhaps most importantly is that I realized I was suddenly disengaged from people I interacted with on a regular, if not daily, basis. I couldn’t expect them to keep up with me through personal emails, Twitter and Facebook, realizing that everyone has a limited amount of time or interest in other pursuits.
With that in mind, I decided to reactivate my account while rethinking my SU strategy going forward. To that end I made some changes including the following:
Trim Friends – Some SU users are under the impression that the friends function is no longer usable that we need to have people subscribe to our pages in order to keep up with them. Well that’s not entirely true. In fact, if you share a stumble with other users that same drop down share list you depended on before SU changed their interface is still there. But, that list of users is something I’m now picking through.
Essentially, I’m not subscribing to those contacts who have moved over to the dark side and are no longer sending shares of value – ads, uninteresting photos, link farms, and more. Lately, I’ve noticed that the percentage of quality shares I’ve been receiving has increased sharply thanks to my renewed effort to carefully examine what other subscribers like to stumble.
Niche Stumbling – While I am willing to stumble friend’s pages (and leave comments too), I have returned to an old habit that has served me well in the past: niche stumbling. Basically, the way that this works is for me to choose those subjects I’m passionate about and stumble those pages one after another. Writing. Cars. Consumer Info. Weblogs. Among others. That’s how I found many of my current followers in the first place, thus there is a good chance I’ll be stumbling your pages without you even asking me to do so. After all, with some 40,000 stumbles under my belt I’ve been around SU. Come January I’ll have been a member for three years.
Use Su.pr – I’ve discovered the usefulness of Su.pr, which is StumbleUpon’s URL shortener site. Though I still use Bit.ly, Su.pr comes in handy when I want to shorten a URL and send it out via Twitter and Facebook. What’s more, you can then stumble that page and it quickly becomes part of the SU matrix.
Which leads me to an important point: yes, I do stumble many of my own pages, but what is wrong with that? If I think something can add value to SU, then I’ll stumble it no matter who authored the work – myself or someone else.
He’s Back
I wasn’t planning to officially announce my SU return, but several people asked me what I was up to. A few of the SU police-types have left their harsh comments (which I deleted), but I really don’t care what these people think. Reddit, Digg, Propeller and SU have their self-appointed cops to chase valid users away, but I won’t be moved.
Like you, I see much value in using SU – where that leads us isn’t always known, but SU does still serve as an excellent way for people to stay connected online.
See Also – StumbleUpon: A Whole Lot of Fun
Tags: Facebook, internet, social media, StumbleUpon, Twitter
Social Media | Matthew C. Keegan, 9 Nov 09
By LD Jackson, November 9, 2009 @ 4:46 am
Welcome back to Stumbleupon, Matt. I am looking at Su.pr now and it looks like it could be very useful.
On the subject of Stumbling your own articles, that is something I have struggle with myself. It seems Stumbleupon doesn’t really want us doing that and there was a time that it would not recognize my own blog. I don’t understand why they do that at all. If an article is informative, what does it matter where it comes from?
By LD Jackson, November 9, 2009 @ 5:00 am
I meant to say also, that the part I would really miss about Stumbleupon is how easy it is to stay in touch with your friends. That’s a big part of the appeal for me.
LD Jackson´s last blog ..House passes health care reform 220-215
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 9, 2009 @ 5:47 am
@LD Jackson
Larry, one interesting thing (among many) about using Su.pr: when you shorten your URL, you’re asked if you want to stumble the page. And, when you check your stats the following message appears: Submit now to thumb-up this page for more traffic.
Based on the way Su.pr is set up, then SU wants you to stumble your own pages.
By LD Jackson, November 9, 2009 @ 7:18 am
@Matthew C. Keegan
Maybe they have changed it then. I am using Su.Pr now and will see how it works out.
LD Jackson´s last blog ..Health care debate moves to the Senate
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 9, 2009 @ 8:21 am
@LD Jackson
Larry, I’m new to Su.pr so I’m not well versed in how it works. But, I seem some similarities between it & Bit.ly, therefore I’ll be comparing to the two to see how well they work.
By Dominique, November 10, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Good for you Matt! I recently deleted my stumbleupon toolbar. It was driving me crazy to see anywhere from 100 and over of stumbles awaiting my perusal and then the lengthy process of going thru them one by one. Instead, I download Firefox’s addthis add on. I love it. I go through my email and check out the stumbles there and then if I want to stumble something I do it through the addthis button. What I really like is the simplicity of it. I can do everything with one button, tweet, stumble, digg, whatever.
Anyway, this has given me a lot more control which I need right now. Trying to nail down a writing schedule that works for me.
Dominique´s last blog ..McConnell and Fort Hood Tribute…
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 11, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
Dominique, I like your plan. The SU toolbar can be a pain…I was getting hit too, but then I figured out that the same handful of folks were sending to me many stumbles. Okay, one or two here or there is fine. But not every day!
I need to check out addthis as I have discovered that your tweets include this function. Sounds like it can be tremendously useful, but I must admit that Firefox has been a problem of late, thus my hesitancy right now.
By Dominique, November 12, 2009 @ 12:29 am
Wow. I haven’t had any problem with Firefox. I love it. But then I am not a computer whiz like you and Larry! LOL
Dominique´s last blog ..Fort Hood: DEADLY consequences of Political Correctness
By Alicia Mergo, November 12, 2009 @ 4:38 am
What is so unique about SumbleUpon services? I do not fully understand why having account there is so important? Or maybe I missed something that you said ?
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 12, 2009 @ 4:50 am
Traffic, mainly Alicia. By using StumbleUpon (SU) your pages can get noticed by hundreds of people, bringing a flood of visitors to your site.
Among the articles I’ve written about SU over the years are the following which detail my and others experiences:
StumbleUpon: A Whole Lot Of Fun!
Have I Been Sending Stumble Thunder Your Way?
One Year Later, Still Stumblelicious!
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 12, 2009 @ 4:51 am
Computer whiz? Not hardly! Still, FF is not without problems. When it first came out it was fine, but now it is prone to loading pages slowly and freezing up on occasion. I mix in Google Chrome, but I still avoid Internet Explorer!
By LD Jackson, November 12, 2009 @ 7:00 am
@Matthew C. Keegan
Well, I am not much of a computer whiz myself. The only things I know are what I have taught myself.
As for browsers, you should give Opera 10 a try. You would be amazed at what is under the hood of this program.
LD Jackson´s last blog ..Who knew what about Nidal Malik Hasan?
By April, November 22, 2009 @ 6:44 am
I have pretty much given up on SU. I used to use it a lot to get traffic to my sites but it was useless for making money. I haven’t logged in for many months now. I’m probably more productive too because I’m not wasting time stumbling stuff.
April´s last blog ..Making Money On WordWolf Part 3: Link Building
By Matthew C. Keegan, November 22, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
@April
April, I think our time in social media can be best used elsewhere. It seems Facebook and Twitter offer better connection possibilities as well as LinkedIn.
Even since my “about face” I haven’t used SU to the extent that I have in the past. As you mentioned, the time factor looms large.