Young Entrepreneur Blog

StumbleUpon has had a whopping 4 million downloads, and to celebrate we have a world exclusive interview with the top 30 users of Stumbleupon.comToday we are speaking with Stumbleupon top user: KarenAK

How long have you been an active user of StumbleUpon?

– I registered on July 11, 2006 but didn’t start my blog until October 2, 2006

What makes you use StumbleUpon more than the other social sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us etc…?

– I like the concept of writing reviews, keeping my own blog and stumbling through other people’s recommended sites. That’s why created an account and I never bothered to check out other sites. I’m happy where I am.

If you could make one positive change to the current Stumbeupon platform, what would it be?

– A second stumble button - one for stumbling the sites my friends have sent me and one for the topics that interest me.

What don’t you like about the current StumbleUpon platform?

– I cannot embed videos and I think they put too many restrictions on the use of html and css.

What are the main factors you look for in content that you feel is worth stumbling?

– is the content worthy to be remembered, do I want to make other people aware of the content

Is there anything that puts you off stumbling an article?

– if it is boring / offensive and/or has already been published all over the net.

What sort of topics interest you the most?

– politics/news, environment/activism, tech sites, science, archaeology, architecture, internet, ….. the list is endless !

What advice would you give to a brand new user of Stumbleupon?

– advice regarding what ? Depends on what the brand new user wants to do. It might be a good start to read other blogs and thus develop ones own ideas and concepts. Join groups, chat, write messages, make friends, have fun !

Do you ever get thanked by the site owners after you stumble their content?

– only once when I stumbled a German site and corrected their atrocious English translation.

Has anyone ever tried to bribe you into stumbling their content?

– no, more’s the pity !

Do you own a website? And if so, what have been your biggest StumbleUpon successes from your site?

– yes I do but it is empty. I don’t have the time for two blogs.

What are your thoughts on stumbling your own content?

– legitimate; depends on the content, doesn’t it ? I have some friends who stumble their own websites and send me their stumbles. I am ok with that because they have interesting (to me) websites.

What are your thoughts on Linkbait and people creating content with the sole aim of getting traffic from sites like Stumbleupon?

– If their sites are interesting, they will be stumbled and people will visit them. If they are boring, no effort whatsoever will make their sites a success. I might be trapped or lured into visiting once, but if it is no good, I won’t go back. And if they continue to pester me, they might be blocked or even get a thumbs down. The most annoying aspect of this is when people spam you with invitations to visit their site. The more there are of them, the fewer I will visit.

Are you influenced by factors like authority of the website, design of the website etc? And if so, what sort of things do you specifically look for?

– It must look good, be easy to read, uncluttered and most important of all: INTERESTING ! What I absolutely detest are gifs, blinking glittering annoying ads.

Why do you feel you are in the top 30 most powerful users of StumbeUpon?

– I don’t think that the Top Stumbler status has anything to do with power. So far the devs have never once done anything that I asked them to do that wasn’t scheduled anyway j.k. - (The really powerful and influential people are not on that list. You will have to read the forums to know what I mean.)
The only advantage I might have as a Top Stumbler is that some people will have a look at my pages just because I am on that list. Also I get a lot of beginners questions which I like to answer and I enjoy watching how blogs come to life.
To answer your question: I really have no idea why I was chosen. It happened fairly quickly after I started to blog but I don’t remember when. Suddenly somebody congratulated me.

What advice would you give to anyone who wanted to get into the top 30?

– It has something to do with how much time you spend on SU, how active you are, how quickly you make friends and how many people thumb up your stumbles. I think. However, it is a big secret and there used to be much speculation about it in the forums.

Thanks for your time, is there anything else you would like to add?

–I would like to see what becomes of these interviews and I would love to read my fellow stumbler’s answers.

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