Sometimes, being the stumbling block ain’t so bad…

In my last (and thus far only) installment in my web 2.0 discussions I went over Twitter and it's uses for marketers. I know far less about how to creatively manipulate todays subject: StumbleUpon. I will make the best of it, however, and show some of my own startling results due to the use of this content networking tool.

StumbleUpon is, at it's core, a virtual network that collects user ratings, reviews, and recommendations for online content and passes it on to other users. That is, to say, it allows people to say what they think is cool and noteworthy. If enough people agree, the network begins to emphasize that content. So, if 500 people "stumble upon" Radiohead giving away their album online (without any other press) and all of them say "hey! look at this!" it will start to show up in other users StumbleUpon content. Then those people will be encouraged to visit Radiohead's site, and if they think it's cool then the momentum builds. In a bit more detail later, I'll explain why this has some pretty incredible potential.

A little background first. StumbleUpon is relatively new. It was founded in 2001, and only breaking the million user mark in 2006 (and then rapidly growing it's user base). It was founded by Garret Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance, and Eric Boyd, and has received investments from bigwigs at the likes of Google, Mozilla, and First Round Capital. In 2007, it was purchased by America's favorite online auction site: eBay. (I prefer Amazon, myself...)

What is StumbleUpon
That's the real question. It's also where the train moves fast, so buckle up and hold on tight because I've never been accused of having a way with words (also a great radio show on WFYI radio on the weekends...)

StumbleUpon (hereafter referred to as SU) uses a process called "collaborative filtering." This process begins as users submit their "stumbles", basically providing their human opinion. This is where they let everyone know what they think it worth looking at. In the second part of this process, SU uses "machine learning of personal preference" to work through the submitted information and segment the users into virtual networks of like-minded users. This means that SU has a mathematical, intuitive formula that says "these people all tend to like these things, so I'll place them together into segments". It's sort of like a venn diagram with five million spheres of influence. Here's an example of how interests could overlap and result in a single common interest that puts a single user into multiple spheres of influence.

So, as users "stumble" new content, their profiles are updated and SU generates a peer network based on that information and links users by common interest. These networks are arranged to disseminate information that is explicitly recommended by other peers in the network. As each user in that network stumbles it, it has the potential to spread to other shared networks. Users can also, if they choose to be social, participate in rating one another and joining in on discussions in the SU message boards.

In 2006 SU extended their process to include videos. StumbleUpon Video aggregates videos from YouTube, Google Video, Myspace and Metacafe and uses it's process for video content. A version of SU Video was released in early 2007 for Wii users.

SU also has sponsored ads that take advantage of it's segmentation method and can target very specific user groups with material relevant to their interests.

Now for the real power of SU. A while ago, a friend read my blog and "stumbled" it. Now, I'm nothing big or important, but here's how my daily traffic pattern went: 3, 3, 4, 2, 0, 0, 3, 1, 140, 32, 15, 3. Notice something there? That was the day I got stumbled. Now, if all of you slackers took my advice with Twitter, you could have subscribed to my feed. When I post, you could "stumble" my work, and then it kind of would maybe mushroom cloud from there. Of course, what I write about is maybe slightly amusing at best, so people would catch on quickly. BUT, in the meantime, I could once again experience how it feels to be one of the cool kids in high school as my narcissistic side screams "look at me! I have a blog!"

As a business model, however, it is clear that it's a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other social "news spreading" tools. So, sometimes, being stumbled on isn't such a bad thing. (now go stumble me darnit!)