Webupon

A few months ago, I had never really heard of the popular site (and phenomenon) known as StumbleUpon. Now, I usually spend some part of my online time each day at StumbleUpon. The site has become increasingly important to me, as a way of finding great content to enjoy, while I promote what I consider the best of my own writing.

While online sites like Associated Content and Triond provide links to StumbleUpon, I never really understood what it was all about until very recently. A fellow Triond writer asked if I was on StumbleUpon, and I decided to check it out. There is a great section in the Triond help area about how to use StumbleUpon to promote your articles, so I signed up at the site and created an account.

There is a learning curve at StumbleUpon, and it took me a while to figure it all out. I have to confess that I’m still pretty new there and still trying to understand the etiquette of StumbleUpon. I often feel like I’m just stumbling my way around StumbleUpon (literally and figuratively.)

Some Lessons Learned on StumbleUpon

I did learn a few things from my experiences so far that could be useful to online writers who are new to StumbleUpon. First of all, even though sites like Triond provide links you can use to stumble your articles, it is really essential to download the StumbleUpon toolbar.

StumbleUpon is a huge pool of users who share their favorite websites with other users in the system. When you sign up for a StumbleUpon account, there is an option to download the StumbleUpon toolbar. This toolbar will embed in your browser, usually right under the Menu bar or Google toolbar. After downloading the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser, you are ready for the full StumbleUpon experience.

On your StumbleUpon toolbar, you’ll see a thumbs up or thumbs down button. When visiting a website, simply hit the thumbs up (the button will go green) or thumbs down (the button will turn red). Then you have the option to tag and review the site also. If you want to remove a rating, just visit the site and hit the thumbs up button again, it will turn blue and the site will be removed from your StumbleUpon favorites. This whole process is what is referred to as “stumbling.”

Your site must be stumbled to see benefits like increased traffic, but it’s frowned upon to just stumble your own work or too many of your own stories to get them in the system. That can be a dilemma for beginning stumblers. I’ve learned there is a great Triond community at StumbleUpon willing to provide help and advice for new stumblers. I’ve had a few fellow Triond writers show me kindness by adding me as a friend and stumbling my work, even though I didn’t have many sites stumbled as I was getting started on StumbleUpon.

In my opinion, if you are new to StumbleUpon and not sure how to get started, let other online writers like the ones at Triond know you are now on StumbleUpon. Then start reading some of the other writers you enjoy and stumble and review some of their articles. Go to these writers StumbleUpon pages and hit “show me a friend’s page.” Then if you like it, stumble that page. You’ll find that soon, other StumbleUpon members will find you and stumble and review your own work also.

I find that this is the best way to build a presence on StumbleUpon. I like to stumble within the Triond community, because I feel that it is a very safe and enjoyable way to stumble. It’s very similar to building a network of friends on the Triond site itself. If you are new to StumbleUpon, you’ll find many Triond writers on StumbleUpon willing to help you understand how to stumble and get started on the site.

Tips for Staying Safe While Using StumbleUpon

Recently, I’ve found out the hard way that you have to be very careful sometimes about sites that lure you to share stumbles with strangers. It’s easy sometimes to want that extra traffic so badly that common sense goes out the window and you toy with the idea of engaging in this kind of stumbling. We all want an increase in visits to our Triond or Associated Content pages and there are some sites out there that promise to build massive StumbleUpon traffic, for free or for a fee.

When I saw a site that wanted me to give up my StumbleUpon password in exchange for the promise of massive stumbling and lots of traffic, I immediately recoiled. I wouldn’t consider it at all. First of all, think of the loss of security in giving up your StumbleUpon password, and the real possibility of being banned on StumbleUpon, as the site frowns on this behavior.

Another security issue is stumbling strange sites you know nothing about. The other day I visited a free site that offered a stumble, if I stumbled a site in return. Intrigued, I agreed to look at the site in question, and if I truly liked it, I’d stumble it (I felt that was fair.) I kept refreshing the page to get a new site to look at, because so many of the sites I kept seeing were either spam or looked questionable (not like a real website.)

Eventually, I clicked on an interesting looking URL, and a window popped up. Immediately, I knew I had made a mistake, and possibly harmed my computer by clicking on this site. The window I clicked on went transparent and there was nothing there, so I closed it. Right after that, my computer acted very strangely. My browser toolbars were no longer in my control. The browser kept hiding my Menu bar, and I couldn’t right click to bring it back. Soon, my Google toolbar disappeared. Then as I opened a new tab on my browser, the toolbars would appear and disappear in a ghostlike manner.

Soon I realized that my whole computer was in serious jeopardy. I closed Internet Explorer and tried to reopen it, but it wouldn’t load. I went to My Documents, and I had hundreds of documents, but I couldn’t see any of them, just a blank space. It was the same story with My Pictures folder, so I decided to run a McAfee virus scan.

I ran the virus scan a few times, but each time, the scan would stop at about the same place, and the scan would go no further. I also discovered in McAfee that my internet security needed attention, and I didn’t have my firewall protection enabled.

So I put up my firewall, and decided to clear my cookies, my Internet Explorer browser history, and my browser cache, and then power down my laptop PC (running Windows Vista) and start up again. I felt horrified because I hadn’t backed up my files in a while, so the thought of losing all my writing was unthinkable.

Fortunately, even though my computer had a major freak out and possibly picked up a bug clicking on that unknown site, I don’t feel there was major damage. I was able to open my browser, surf the internet and access my personal computer files again. For a few moments my computer was really messed up, and since I rely on my laptop so much, that was pretty scary. I believe that someone put an unsafe site into a swapping site for stumbles, just to cause harm and possibly get some kicks from temporarily messing up another person’s computer.

So I’m avoiding these kinds of sites that offer a random stumble for a stumble. I noticed that one day I had an increase of a few hundred page views at Triond, and I wondered where the traffic was coming from. I found out that a fellow Triond writer had liked my story and stumbled it, and I hadn’t realized it. To me, that’s really the true spirit of StumbleUpon, and the whole purpose of stumbling, to share sites you like with other users who will give them thumbs up in return, building traffic in an intelligent way.

A Few Thoughts for Safe Stumblers

A few final tips for safe stumbling: keep your firewall up and your virus protection up to date if you are going to be out there stumbling strange sites you don’t know anything about. If you are going out there and stumbling unknown sites to build traffic, back up your important files in case you click on a harmful site.

For the safest StumbleUpon experience, stumble sites from your trusted friends, or stumble sites you’re familiar with. Use sites that will promise free stumbles at your own risk. Know that StumbleUpon frowns on that kind of activity, and you could get your StumbleUpon page banned. Also, these sites have the potential to direct you to a page that may harm your computer.

Don’t just stumble your own pages at StumbleUpon. If you do, you’ll find it harder to make friends and gain credibility at the site. The more friends you have, and the more high quality, diverse stumbles you make, the better your chances of increasing traffic to your pages. I’ve learned that some people at StumbleUpon won’t add anyone as a friend who hasn’t stumbled enough pages, or has stumbled too many of their own pages.

The more thumbs up you have on your pages, and the more friends you have, the better your chances of seeing some major traffic to your pages. So it’s important to understand how StumbleUpon works as a social website.

There’s definitely a culture and etiquette to StumbleUpon, and I’m still figuring it all out. I’m grateful that my computer is intact, and from now on, I’ll be a lot smarter about stumbling. By familiarizing yourself with StumbleUpon, and following a few simple guidelines, you can have a safe and enjoyable StumbleUpon experience and make the site work for you.