Social discovery tool StumbleUpon has inspired 25 billion clicks by directing people to pages accross broad topics like “art” or “fashion.” Now it’s taking its recommendations to a more specific level with a new feature it launched on Wednesday.
With the “Explore Box” feature, users can Stumble pages related to hundreds of thousands specific topics — like Vincent Van Gogh — instead of working within about 500 set categories — like art — that StumbleUpon has stuck to in the past. It’s as though a search engine and a “best of” list had a child. If StumbleUpon hasn’t sorted the exact term you’re looking for, it will match you with the next best thing.
Right now the feature is restricted to a small search bar in the browser product. But despite the minimal presence on the homepage, it’s a huge change for StumbleUpon.
In the future, StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp says, StumbleUpon will integrate Explore Box’s technology with its follow feature so that users can Stumble a mix of general and specific topics. That will make the discovery engine a lot more personalized, and eventually (though Camp says probably not anytime soon) enable StumbleUpon’s advertisers to more closely target their ads.
“We’ve had to basically rewrite the recommendation engine,” Camp told Mashable. “Even though it seems a lot of work going into one feature, that one feature is going to influence the entire experience.”
Photo courtesy of Flickr, Laughing Squid
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Posted on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:31:02 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/hTIlA8HC1iA/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/17/stumbleupon-explore-box/#comments
With the “Explore Box” feature, users can Stumble pages related to hundreds of thousands specific topics — like Vincent Van Gogh — instead of working within about 500 set categories — like art — that StumbleUpon has stuck to in the past. It’s as though a search engine and a “best of” list had a child. If StumbleUpon hasn’t sorted the exact term you’re looking for, it will match you with the next best thing.
Right now the feature is restricted to a small search bar in the browser product. But despite the minimal presence on the homepage, it’s a huge change for StumbleUpon.
In the future, StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp says, StumbleUpon will integrate Explore Box’s technology with its follow feature so that users can Stumble a mix of general and specific topics. That will make the discovery engine a lot more personalized, and eventually (though Camp says probably not anytime soon) enable StumbleUpon’s advertisers to more closely target their ads.
“We’ve had to basically rewrite the recommendation engine,” Camp told Mashable. “Even though it seems a lot of work going into one feature, that one feature is going to influence the entire experience.”
Photo courtesy of Flickr, Laughing Squid
More About: social media, stumbleuponFor more Startups coverage:Follow Mashable Startups on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Startups channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:31:02 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/hTIlA8HC1iA/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/17/stumbleupon-explore-box/#comments