Learn Something New - How to use StumbleUpon

Learning is a process that begins when we are very young and continues throughout our lives.  Whether it's something simple, like learning how to tie a tie, or something more time-consuming, like designing a WordPress theme, there's always something new you can learn.

As adults, we tend to learn something new when its necessary, usually for our career, but we often never find the time to learn something new simply to expand our minds and enjoy the pleasures of accomplishing something worthwhile. 

To help myself and hopefully others, we're going to learn something new here each week.  If you come across a good opportunity for learning, or if you write your own informative how-to, send me a link through the contact form or leave it in the comments and I'll share it.  Let me know if there's something in particular you want to learn in the same way and I'll do my best to post it!

Today, we're going to explore the world of StumbleUpon (if you haven't already).  Over half a year ago, I came across this post about StumbleUpon, including some great tips for beginners, and it's been starred in my reader ever since!  A few days ago, I received an invite from my partner Danny (at the business and technology blog).  So, read along with me as I join StumbleUpon and start to learn how to use it!

The sign-up process is quite simple.  Click the link above, fill in your email address and create a username and password.  You can then download and install the StumbleUpon toolbar (yes, this makes my 4th toolbar.  they seem to be taking over my screen!)  You will need to close all open browser windows before running the install, so make sure you're prepared.

Reopen your browser after the install and click the "start stumbling" link to sign in.  Be sure you're on a page you're ready to navigate away from before getting started. 

You can now save your favorite posts and even mark the ones you don't like straight from your toolbar!  You can email a note to yourself if you read a post you want to look into further or maybe even blog about or you can share it with a friend.  You can even read reviews or leave one of your own!

Now, it looks like we're to the fun part!  Select your interests and then click the "stumble" button to find great reads.  Rate what you like and what you don't. 

The first website I stumbledupon shows just how important it is to  do all we can to improve the planet by giving a real time estimate of just how many greenhouse gasses we are emitting every second.

StumbleUpon's "Thumbs up for Trees" campaign is one more way to help the planet.  Be sure to stop by the page and give it a thumbs up to plant one more tree!

I can definitely see the possibilities of getting lost in time stumbling LOL.  New and interesting websites are just a click away -- and their tailored to your interests!   

Don't forget that building your profile, making friends, and sharing your favorites is the best way to build your own blog!  

I hope someone besides myself finds this helpful :-) I'm going to set my timer or I'll never get another thing done!   Share your own StumbleUpon experiences in the comments and don't forget to find me!

Comments

[Danny]

I can't live without it - I must spend at LEAST an hour every day just stumbling around... ;-)