It's
one of the most informative web experiences -- I confess that when I first
used StumbleUpon, it was entirely out of boredom. At first glance it's a
similar experience to clicking through the channels on TV – the perfect
medicine for the short attention span. Then I noticed something: StumbleUpon
isn't just a tool of entertainment, it's a legitimate source of
information.
For instance, if I wanted to become
informed about stock-trading, I would select stock-trading as one of my categories. StumbleUpon will then bring up stock-trading websites and then my
research can be further refined by the ratings I give to individual sites;
StumbleUpon “learns” what type of site I'm looking for, cross-references this information with similar surfers, and then predicts websites that I would be
interested in.
Getting Started
The good news – StumbleUpon is
compatible with Mozilla and Mozilla-Firefox web browsers.
The bad news – Internet Explorer
users are out of luck.
The other good news – Mozilla and
Mozilla-Firefox are free for download at www.mozilla.org,
and setup is simple. So get over there and grab a copy; these web-browsers have
many other documented advantages over Internet Explorer, so it will be worth
your time.
Installing StumbleUpon:
Head
over to www.stumbleupon.com and
click “Join Now”
On the
next screen click “Install Now,” and then restart Mozilla
Now
you should see a new button in your browser's menu bar that says “Welcome
to StumbleUpon!” Click this button and follow the directions to create
your new account
Be sure to select
a good variety of categories so your Stumbling doesn't grow stale