gt1987’s blog

It is well known fact that there are top users on Digg, Reddit and almost every other similar social bookmarking web site. StumbleUpon, one of the most popular social bookmarking services, also has it’s top users (top stumblers).

To became top stumbler, you’ll need very similar things that are needed to became top user on other social bookmarks sites. However, there might be some things that are different. I started using StumbleUpon more than one year ago and I got some experience which I am willing to share with others who are interested about this so, here are my top 10 advices about how to become top Stumbler.

1. Choose good username and avatar

If you want to become influential stumbler, and if you want to be recognized by others you need to have good recognizable and unique username. It is also very important to have attractive and unique avatar. I found that most successful users use their real photos for avatars. It is very important to tell others that you’re actually real person and that you are not some bot, spammer or similar and the best way to do that is unique username and real photo used for your avatar image.

2. Write good and honest profile description

Profile description is also very important. You need to introduce yourself to others so they could know who you are and what are your interests. Writing honest description is best way to get friends that share your interests.

3. Add friends who share your interests

Adding friends is option which is not available in latest version of StumbleUpon but yet, there is an option of mutual subscriptions so adding friends can be considered as getting mutual subscribers.

When you add only those friends who share your interests, then it is more possible that they might add you back. Also, you don’t want to have friend that will share some boring and irrelevant favorites with you.

4. While writing reviews, write your own opinion about the given topic

Well known StumbleUpon feature is reviewing your and others favorites. It is very important to do this right because this is what will tell others about who you are. Your reviews are reflection of your personality. If you write good and honest reviews, then it will surely gain your popularity amongst other users and make your profile more respectful.

5. Review profile pages of users who you like

Reviewing profile page of other StumbleUpon users can help you to get noticed by others but that can be useful only if you do it in right way. As same as for reviewing favorites, while reviewing profile pages of other Stumblers, you have to write honest and sincere reviews. You have to know the reason why you are writing that review, not to do that just for purpose of getting noticed by others. If you don’t know why are you writing review, then it is better for you not to write it at all.

6. Be helpful so others will help you

Successful social media activity is all about being helpful and getting help for others. Do for others what you would like others do for you. When someone shares some interesting and nice favorite with you, than you should consider to write your own opinion about that. But you need to follow the 4th and 5th advice from this article too. It doesn’t matter if someone is ignoring your shares and not giving attention to your favorites, if you like the content you should write some nice review about it. Remember, your profile page is reflection of your personality, and if you have some good content in your favorites, it can make your profile page more interesting to others and bring you popularity.

7. Share only good favorites and do not spam!

No matter how your favorite is interesting or funny, you should think twice before sharing it with your friends. The most common mistake of newbie Stumblers is that they want to share a lot of favorites with others on daily basis. StumbleUpon is content recommendation engine but it is certainly not spam engine and if your friends notice that you’re annoying them with lot of shares every day or with some bad and boring content, then you might lose them very soon. Sharing one good favorite per day should be enough.

8. Make good discoveries

Discovering good articles on StumbleUpon is one of the best ways to gain popularity for your profile. You will find that discoveries made from web sites which are already very popular could bring plenty of visits to your StumbleUpon profile page and eventually it could bring you new subscribers and friends that share your interests.

9. Make friends not enemies

StumbleUpon is social experience and you have to be friendly there. If you easily get nervous and frustrated by others, then you shouldn’t even join to StumbleUpon or any other social media service, because, at the end, it will be worse for you. When you find that some of your StumbleUpon friends is often sharing good favorites with you and is helpful with your favorites, then you might consider giving him more attention and sharing your opinion with him. Talk with others and share your thoughts because social media activity is all about that.

I have noticed that there are some users that are having fun while giving downvotes and bad reviews of others profile pages or favorites. Despite the fact that you can find some favorites or profiles which you just don’t like or even hate, it is not smart to go around and search for such content and downvote it with bad reviews. It is much better just to skip that favorite if you don’t like it than to bother with writing bad reviews etc. But, sometimes, you can find content that really needs bad review and, off course, it is OK from time to time to warn others about bad content.

10. Be active but not addictive

Once when you find that StumbleUpon is great place to spend your time, you could easily become addictive about it. I have written on my profile page that I am “StumbleUpon addict” but I try not to use it too much and I often decide to go “on vacation” and just not to open SU for a while, as a prevention to becoming more addictive. Anyway, lot of activity will certainly bring lot of attention to your profile page but having healthy life and good sleep is much important for you,  so you need to know when it is time to stop.

Tagged as advices, social media, stumblers, Stumbleupon + Categorized as social media