StumbleUpon -- Entertainment or Social Bookmarking Tool? Or both?

All last summer my roommate would come in my room and show me new pictures, websites, recipes, etc. and every time I asked how she found it she'd just say "oh I stumbled upon it". It wasn't until about a month later that I asked her what she meant. That was when she introduced me to my new favorite obsession, StumbleUpon. No joke, for at least a week I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning just repeatedly pressing "Stumble" to see what new and interesting website I came across.

For those who don't know, Stumble Upon is a social bookmarking site using Mozilla Firefox. You download a tool bar to your internet browser and basically train it to what you like and are interested in. From there, you're just a click away from a world of new information!

To be honest, I never knew that Stumble Upon was a social bookmarking site until class recently. In fact, I didn't even really know what a social bookmarking site was. However, in my short lived obsession with the program it has allowed me to do so many different things I never knew I needed.

For instance, work! I work for my dad's photography studio and he is constantly looking for new and interesting poses and backdrops. So... I told stumble upon I was interested in artistic creations, photoshop, photography, etc. and presto! I was able to pull up a ton of new ideas with a few clicks and hardly any time waisted.

When I took Capstone this past summer and I was in the preliminary stages of picking a topic, I thought it'd be funny to see if I could use Stumble Upon to break the surface!! So... I told stumble upon that I was interested in controversial issues, immigration, politics, and other similar keywords and within half an hour I'd narrowed in on a topic. Better yet, when it came time to find parties involved I used stumble upon to find non-profits and support groups!

As with all social bookmarking sites and similar internet tools, it is interesting to think about all the things you can do... a chef can use social bookmarking sites to find recipes, photographers can find images, parents can find helpful parenting tools... And if you happen to come across a social bookmarker with similar interests, just subscribe to their posts via RSS feeds and in minutes you can bring all the information to you! With all the new technologies springing up I can't help but wonder... what's next?