Thoughts from an 8pm Warrior

After its update this week, StumbleUpon.com has a new logo, new channel feature, and improved profiles.

The “Explore” search feature is also out of beta and ready to change the way people search for interesting pages on the web.

Just like the recent YouTube upgrade, I think these changes are notable.

Here are 5 reasons you should check out StumbleUpon:

1.  StumbleUpon sends more traffic than Facebook

Yep, you read that correctly.

With well over 1 Billion pages visited through their service each month, leaders can no longer afford to ignore it.  If you’re producing great content on the internet, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to have your work seen by people who have opted-in to see the very topic you just wrote about.

2.  StumbleUpon now allows brands to have their own channel

This has huge potential.

In the past, it was frowned upon to open up an SU account just to share your own blog posts.  Recently they’ve done a 180 and now encourage brands to share their content via integrated RSS feeds, Twitter, and Facebook.  The only problem is that it’s not an easy process to set up a branded channel.  In fact, there is absolutely no instruction on how to create a StumbleUpon channel, despite the fact that their blog clearly states that it’s open to everyone now.

Stay tuned.  I’m sure they’ll work it out soon.

It will look something like the 8pm Warrior profile:

3.  StumbleUpon has 20,000,000 users and counting

It’s definitely not a passing fad.  It’s been around since 2001 and is now seeing tremendous growth. More members means a larger community of people exposed to your content and sharing it through the Su.pr shortlink system or the StumbleUpon “Submit” buttons (see example on the left or bottom of this post).

Almost all top blogs have these “Submit” buttons and now services like Triberr have it built in too.

Ubiquity + 20,000,000 users = Success

4. StumbleUpon Paid Discovery

For as little as $0.05, you can have someone on your site without another click (beyond clicking the “Stumble” button).  No banner ads.  No miniature square Facebook ads or small text-based Adwords.  An impression is an impression of your whole page, not just a small logo.

It’s also not too expensive either.

You can target it to interests, locations, or demographics and it integrates with Google Analytics so you can see what’s happening with your traffic.

5. New “Explore” Search Feature on StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon.com is not a full-blown search engine (yet), but it does allow you to search almost 500,000 topics and find pages at least one person found interesting.  Yes, it takes some of the serendipity out of finding a cool site randomly, but it allows for a more customizable feed of stuff that is more likely to please.  A big win for users.

The “Explore” feature looks like this:

Any leader, marketing pro, producer, or blogger needs to be aware of the positive impact that StumbleUpon can have on your business if you use it correctly.  In the Attention Era, there’s nothing as valuable as free attention.

If you’ve never heard of it before, check out the 45 second video below and learn how the new site works:

If you’re already on StumbleUpon, let’s connect. Here’s the link. I always follow back my fellow 8pm Warriors.

Stumble around tonight,

Aaron@Biebert

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(This post is the 3nd in a five part series about participation in the world of Social Media)

So you’ve decided to dive into the world of Social Media?

Welcome!

Now comes the hard part.  Just check out these stats:

• 30,000,000,000 items are shared each month on Facebook (official Facebook stats)
• 2,890,000,000 tweets are posted on Twitter each month (official Twitter stats)
• 200,000,000+ blogs had been started by 2009, with many more added each day (Technorati)
• More written information was created in the last 48 hours than from the beginning of time to the year 2000 combined (Google)

So what is a social media consumer to do?

Below are some of the great tools out there to efficiently organize and screen information that’s flying at you.

1) Flipboard

If you have an iPad, you need Flipboard.  If you don’t have an iPad, you need to get one.  This app is that great!

Basically it takes your news feed from Twitter or Facebook and turns it into your very own social magazine!  It adds visual appeal and is easy to get right to the good stuff.  Apple named it their app of the year, and it is my #1 tool for consuming (and curating) great content

2) Summify

No matter what way you read social media posts, Summify can help you.  Lisa Sunbury has been using it and absolutely loves  how you’re able to have up to four emails sent per day, containing the top 5 stories in your main areas of interest.

3) Paper.li

Twice a day I publish the 8pm Warrior Digest of content shared by my favorite leaders.  You can subscribe to it and it will send the digest to your email.  I know that others have similar papers too.

4) Curators

I recommend that you seek out and follow Curators who will help filter the good stuff and share it with you.  There are literally thousands of people who spend much of their day sharing the best content that they can find.  If you are looking for some great ones, check with Robert Caruso for his recommendations.  His Bundlepost technology allows people to share even more content in a well organized way, so he knows the best curators on Earth.

5) Google Reader

If you like to read blogs, but have a hard time organizing them, then RSS and Google Reader might be for you.  Many people still don’t know what RSS is, so here’s a good guide to both Google Reader and RSS.

If you’re using a different reader, check out other options here on the 8pm Warrior RSS feed.

6) Social Bookmarking Sites:

These top sites use the collective power of many curators to help you find the best content on the internet.

• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Delicious
• Digg

I hope these 6 methods of screening and consuming information will help you efficiently wade through the thousands of social media updates flying your way each day.  If you have any that I missed, post a comment below.

Have a great night!

Aaron@Biebert

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