I was reading the Ellison et al reading about Facebook ‘Friends’ and social capital, and it got me to thinking about social capital and the spread of content across sites. I think the sharing aspect of StumbleUpon takes advantage of the social capital created by networks like Facebook and Twitter. Users of Twitter can retweet links to cool things that their StumbleUpon-using friends have found, as well as liking it with the Twitter star. Facebook friends of StumbleUpon users can copy and past the StumbleLinks that their friends have posted to their own walls, and in doing so spread the content across friend-of-friend-of-friend networks. So, essentially, for StumbleUpon content to be spread effectively, large amounts of social capital needs to be pre-existing on sites like Twitter and Facebook where content is posted.
The StumbleUpon experience with social networking doesn’t really work on it’s own. StumbleUpon delivers the pages to me, and I’ll share them with specific people on Facebook, with a whole group of people on Facebook, or with all my followers on Twitter, or even post them on Tumblr. So on its own, StumbleUpon doesn’t have that much of a social networking capacity, but its content can be shared via other channels. StumbleUpon provides for this sharing via channels such as Facebook by giving users a ‘share’ button for Facebook, Twitter, and a special share button for emailing the link to a friend who doesn’t use these channels.
Users can also have a small role in determining if others see the page they have looked at. They can evaluate a page with the ‘I like this (thumbs up) page. If a site is given the thumbs-up many time, it is more likely to be stumbled on by other users, and sites like it are likely to be stumbled upon by the user.
Warschauer and Grimes talk about this idea of a non-self-contained website which people share off of as part of a “constellation of features,” which facilitates social networking. Users put content on StumbleUpon, which is then channelled to the ‘Stumbler’, who then posts it on their own website. And the constellation formed by other websites, StumbleUpon and Facebook, Twitter and the link “allows users to generate, link and evaluate and share a wide variety of online content.
Just been reading up on Social Networking sites from danah boyd and Nicole Ellison’s ‘Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship, ” paper. I’ve also been thinking about the social networking aspects of tumblr based on what they’ve been saying. One of the most obvious ones to me is the idea of the “articulation” of pre-existing, real-space-and-time social networks based on interests. if the capabilities of both StumbleUpon and Facebook are harnessed, StumbleUpon’s content can be distributed through friend connections to many different audiences, or to a particular recipient upon the discretion of the ‘stumbling’ user. For example, I gained access to this page through stumble upon
http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#1PWAdN/www.freakingnews.com/pictures/41000/Gonzo-Journalism—41262.jpg/.
The link leads to a satirical picture of Gonzo the Muppet dressed as Hunter S. Thompson.
I then posted it on my friend Andrew’s page. Andrew idolizes Hunter S. Thompson, and the picture serves as sort of an in-joke. Thus, StumbleUpon content can be distributed over social networks which have been articulated on Facebook and other sites. The content can be distributed to or between people who have a strong or similar interest in something.
Note: there are two icons on StumbleUpon through which links can be posted directly to a user’s wall. Link URLs can also be copied and pasted.
(I’m not sure where I got this from…if you know who the author is, email me at ellesha.dobbs.digc101@gmail.com)
An online alarm klok. Although if you had the technology to access this, you’d probably have the technology to wake yourself up without it. Kind of self defeating.
It has that tool that makes funny stories out of random adjectives for when you’re stuck at home sick with another family member. Ohmanohmanohman. It’s better than lolcatz.
A list of meme videos you should have seen if you’re on the internet.
Lolza. I was sold at ‘Charlie Bit Me.’
WikiRandom. I found an old film called Moontide.
Quick plug for musician Sia’s page. This woman is good egg.
And singer Jewel’s blog. It didn’t look overly bloggy when I looked at it (more like a gig guide), but there might be gold in them thar’ hills.
I’ve been stumbling.
Recipe website with some creative and incredibly scrumptious looking food. Fudgesicle, anyone?
Not a lot of point to this one, but the random shape I drew was so pretty when it was spun, I just couldn’t help but post it.
Free online books. This book offers free online books from authors like Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe. There are lots of titles from classic and highly revered authors.
So after I found these, Internet Explorer started crashing. Ew.
Over to WikiRandom. Ten points to Gryffindor.
I totally wish I was from Madagascar.
Oh, and don’t go past these.
Death Cab For Cutie. These boys are wonderful.
Regina Spektor. nothing else needs to be said.
