14 DAY TRIAL // StumbleUpon has recently announced that its video section was upgraded so as to support new third-party channels and personalized recommendations from other users.
StumbleUpon is a popular platform that enables users to rate and share their ratings of webpages, images and videos.
The new update to StumbleUpon Video will allow users to access and rate Hulu and TED videos, along with the pre-existing content from YouTube, CollegeHumor, Metacafe, DailyMotion and Vimeo.
It is this very varied list of supported platforms that helps StumbleUpon Video stand out from the crowd and become more popular as time goes by.
Furthermore, the fact that members can watch full-length versions of the videos in questions, then 'stumble' them has surely helped increase the service's popularity.
Another important feature included in the recent upgrade of StumbleUpon Video is that its recommendation engine was optimized to display recommendations from one's friends, rather than showing only the ones that were highly popular or well-rated at the moment.
Instead of randomly looking for interesting videos or searching specifically for a certain clip, then navigate away, users are provided with more targeted and relevant content.
StumbleUpon relies on an algorithm which considers one's previous interactions, alongside community feedback and input from users to offer only clips that that will surely be of interest.
This is what Garrett Camp, CEO and co-founder of StumbleUpon, had to say about the new upgrade:“With the new StumbleUpon Video, we’re bringing serendipity to channel surfing, giving people an alternative to television that is more interactive, diverse and personalized.”
Those familiar with StumbleUpon's design will not encounter any difficulties in getting accustomed with the new personalized recommendations, whereas the visitors who are new to the service simply need to create an account, then gradually creating a profile of the topics and subjects they are interested in.
After this, it will all come naturally and users will generally be offered only with videos that match their criteria, while still having the possibility to mark a certain clip as not suitable for them, regardless of the website hosting the content.