Category: community

It started with “google” — an internet term which became a standard word in any word class and in any language. Then it was “blog”, which is apparently the word that most quickly has been entered in French dictionaries.
But where I live, “Stumble” tops them all. People can be ‘thumbs-upped’ for their great stumbles. It’s the best example I can think of of an idea which in itself is great, but which, when put into practice, not only proves itself as great in the way it was meant, but also has a potential for growth in all possible directions, which the originator could never have imagined.
The basic idea is this: say you’re interested in cats. You look for pictures of cats, but you’re not sure which cat picture sites out of the 61,700,000 hits on google are the good ones. But your friend, who also likes cats, sends you a couple of good links, and now you have somewhere to start.
He also happens to like dogs, and he sends a couple of dog links as well. You’ve never cared much about dogs before, but his links are good, so you check them out.
This is StumbleUpon, a link-sharing network community. You pick your interests, click a button, and come to a site which someone has recommended in that category. I’ve found some great sites-you-didn’t-know-you-needed that way. If you find something you like, you give it a thumbs-up, or if you don’t like it, a thumbs-down, and you will not be bothered by that site or sites like it any more.
But that’s not where it ends. You can write your review of the pages you come to. They will be collected in your own area of StumbleUpon – something like a blog. A blog with a purpose, because in principle you don’t just write about your cat (well, in this case you do), but about sites you like and why.
Especially the option to “photo-blog” has boosted this aspect of Stumble enormously. You will now find Stumblers whose profile pages are nothing but a collection of nice pictures (of cats, mostly). You will find networks, both organized and the wild, unorganzied ones that grow out of a common interest, a weird idea, a common aquaintance.
Check out my stumbles, and take it from there.