StumbleUpon - How Does It Work?
Well… it’s very simple for the user. You just click the Stumble! Button, and you are taken to a ‘random’ website. Then you can press the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down… it’s your call!
But, what is really happening in the background? Well, the diagram below is a simple way to explain it. But, keep in mind, that if you submit a website in a certain category, and in that category there are 99 other websites, so that’s 100 in all, that does not mean that your website will have a 1/100 probability of being shown to users. Because you can pay StumbleUpon and your website will have much more chance of being displayed to a user than any other website. So for example your FREE website will have 1/120 probability of being shown to a user, besides the paid option, it even depends from the users feedback, if the like it or not.. and from their friends, friends of friends and so on.
The Advantages? Simple, you will have 100% targeted users! Because when a user signs up he/she will have to select the categories he will be interested in.
For a Graphical Illustration on how all this works, take a look at the diagram below (click for a larger image)
StumbleUpon