I finally worked out how to use Stumble upon properly via the Firefox extension. StumbleUpon is cool, but not.

I say "Worked out how to use SU" but that is probably putting it a bit strong. Sometimes concepts are too simple to understand first time round, but after an enlightening discovery - hitting the Stumble icon repeatedly and getting results -, Ed is no more the kid outside looking in, bemused, as everyone else has fun. I finally joined the 2.6 million strong hordes who find clicking on "Stumble" to be quite the experience. I also saw the downsides too and begin to get a better idea of what some sharp observers hate about Web 2.0 entities.

How to Stumble

To recap, there is nothing to it, really. Clicking the Stumble icon in your toolbar repeatedly, is like clicking the "Next Blog" button in Blogger blogs. A new blog loads with each click, but the blogs are targeted to your prefences. And to make it a doubly constructive surf through 70 million sites, you are given a thumbs up or thumbs down option to express your opinion of the blogs you have been given to browse.

Behind StumbleUpon

As you could tell from the pictures, the 3 button front end isn't rocket science, but I suspect that the algorithms are pretty cute, seeing that the majority of sites you are presented with really do match your interests.

Getting Stumbled

As for how your blog gets Stumbled - yikes - every time you give a page the thumbs up, it adds some kudos to the article or feature. This glorified vote flies a post higher up the hierarchy of categorised selections offered to the Stumbling masses. Like a virus, the more visitors give a post the thumbs up, the more likely others are shown it and before you know it, the servers are down on the site hosting the Stumbled post! That is all there is to it.

However, there is no point rehashing here what millions already know. StumbleUpon is cool but it also raised some issues in my head, like big red flags.

Easy access to information is good

In theory if a post is well enough written, that should provoke further investigation inside a site. We all like more of the same when our taste buds are salivating, so with the huge array of targeted blogs in their database StumbleUpon have plenty of material for surfers to feast on, delve into and use to improve their minds or laugh or groan at. So SU is good, intrinsically. Maybe!

Theory says that the whole internet in fact is a mine of information to improve man's understanding. Educators rave about the power of internet, the repository of all knowledge.

Well, they used to rave, but now the wise ones rant about how Google search copy and paste has ruined students' ability to write essays of their own. And instead of satisfying an innate curiosity and researching the answers to life when they get home from school, students IM and MySpace their lives away. SU is another example, in my opinion of a good idea that has too many disadvantages to deem it a raving success.

Stumble Upon can breed contempt for content

I think, like most tools and luxuries, familiarity breeds contempt, free is too easy, etc etc. The StumbleUpon ease-of-use opens the mind and reveals different ways of thinking, but then it will reach a point where it gets misused and abused and eventually becomes mindless.

Right now, I think the most conscientious Stumblers scan what they have been given by SU, maybe read that post a little closer, and if it grabs them, hit the thumbs up button - next!

Others maybe maybe take a 30 second cursory trip through the rest of a site, and even less frequently bookmark the page (guaranteeing a one in a thousand chance of one in three visitors ever returning).

In time, it will be a blog race. Scan, tut, (this whole site is crap) Next. Like a blog blur, users will be unleashing StumbleUpon algorithms to do the hard surfing work for them ie hit the Stumble button to once again scan, tut and next your way to glazed eyedom.

Web 2.0 Downside of Stumble Upon

Looking at it bleakly and without a plan to harness the phenomenon, ultimately Stumble Upon would appear as just one more Web 2.0 consumerist throwaway tool, a cool version of a scraper site for the benefit of people who don't blog, who don't create content.

As far as Stumble Upon are concerned, I am not an 800 article blog possibly loaded with ads to generate some revenue to pay for the blog, I am a random single page that is consumed by people with no loyalty to me whatsoever. The visitors read and go, I am left idling in the wake of Stumblers who whizzed through like locusts, taking and not leaving a thing behind, except a spike, temporary bragging rights and a warm server.

SU, this slick guided search for preferred blog types should be a chance for bloggers to impress and attract a new lifelong reader. Unfortunately, if you just blog without realising this particular audience's needs and attitudes, meaningful traffic is a forlorn hope! And worse, you are supplying consumers of SU for SU's benefit, not your own.

The need to harness Stumble Upon

You could say that bloggers only have a few seconds to make an impact, so deal with it. There are differences however between the attention spans and analytical skills of those ambling through a museum and those running full pelt through an amusement park. SU was like a quick junky fix, perfect for further stimulating over-stimulated minds into oblivion. At least that was my experience, judging by the long history of really cool but forgotten 30 second sites I am looking at now in bewilderment. I Stumbled Upon that many sites and I am supposed to do it again tomorrow too??!!

How to harness Stumble upon?

Fortunately, a tool is a tool for good and evil depending on the hands it is in. Just be glad sometimes we can look to the probloggers for guidance on building web traffic, so substitute SU for Digg and you may be on to something.

And if you want to get noticed, make money and / or advertise, check out Profit and Subvert. Very interesting way not to stay a victim of Stumblers!

And of you don't want to be a mad glazed eyed blog rat, take your time and look beyond the first thing on a site to flash before you. Sometimes less is more!

Ed's effort to make his Stumble somewhat meaningful

My favorite discovery was / is this Mini Ajax script directory. Wow, my juices are flowing after looking closely at a few of these. Webmasters should browse and look under leaves (ie don't stumble around mindlessly) and you will see what I mean.

As usual, the goody bag provokes all sorts of dreamy thoughts centered on how you can incorporate the scripts into your blog in a way that adds to the user experience without adding to the clutter. Time to try and streamline social bookmarking buttons per chance?

Make StumbleUpon precious

I suspect Stumbling has already evolved into a mindless flick and charge (read surfing) around the internet for many. It is how people consume these days, but it doesn't make it right. I think Stumbling could be more precious if it were limited! MyBlogLog users have been limited to 15 visits to try and curb this glazed need to visit and say two words to people you will never speak to again.

Rather than do the equivalent of counting stars and saying you own the ones you counted, Stumble could be a gem of a blog discovery session that you appreciate and look forward to. How cool to be cut off from surfing for your own good, knowing you can return 24 hours later for another hit!