StumbleUpon was the answer to this problem.
What Was StumbleUpon?
StumbleUpon was created in 2001 by Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance, and Eric Boyd.
StumbleUpon in 2010.
The solution they came up with was StumbleUpon.
It was simple to use too.
You could also do more focused Stumbling in specific topics and categories.
StumbleUpon in 2014.
But in essence, it was simply a way to randomly wander around the internet.
It was a time when the internet was still primarily a thing people accessed on a computer.
Smartphones were becoming popular, but not everyone had one yet.
It was the same feeling as getting your first smartphone and downloading a bunch of apps.
Everything was new and exciting.
I bought my first laptop in 2007, and a friend told me about StumbleUpon.
It was just the right thing for an internet newbie.
I had this whole new world in front of me—but no idea where to start.
It really was like moving to a brand new city and trying to find things to do.
Making the Internet More Walkable
StumbleUpon made the internet feel much more accessible.
You were just a click away from discovering an interesting website you would have never known about.
That was the magic of StumbleUpon.
It made the massive city of the internet feel more connected.
How else would you have ever come across those two websites?
But that was what made it fun.
That place just happened to be the entire internet.
I’ve been talking about StumbleUpon in the past tense, but it does technically still exist.
In 2018,StumbleUpon was shut downin favor of the Garrett Camp’s new service called “Mix.”
StumbleUpon accounts were transitioned to Mix, and users were able to import their StumbleUpon favorites.
Mix is also geared toward discovery, but it’s not about websites anymore.
It surfaces photos and videos in a way that seems very similar to Reddit or TikTok.
The magic of StumbleUpon is dead.
However, there are still services that do what the original StumbleUpon made popular.
You might not find as many friendly personal blogs made by alpaca farmers.
For a moment in time, StumbleUpon brought the internet closer together.
That was pretty cool.
Related:Nothing Beneficial Comes From Mindless Scrolling
