What do you think of the new StumbleUpon Channels options?

Have you noticed the new changes with StumbleUpon.com yet?

While the relaunch comes with a redesigned homepage, toolbar and even logo, it’s really all about two features. One feature, you may already be familiar with – the Explore Box. It’s been in beta for months, but with the relaunch, it’s not any longer, and will appear in the upper right-hand corner anytime someone is stumbling.

The second feature is the one you’ll probably more interested in, however. At least a business or a website owner.  It’s called StumbleUpon Channels.

StumbleUpon Channels | What is it?

With StumbleUpon Channels, every site, celebrity, brand or business can set up their own profile and get people to follow them on StumbleUpon, just like with other social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.

According to StumbleUpon.com: “With Channels you can see things from particular sites, people, and brands/products that you already know and like, while you’re Stumbling. Follow the ones you’re into to uncover more hand-picked gems, in addition to the great things we would normally recommend.  And, here’s the best part: no need to worry about missing the good stuff–as usual, we pick all the things we think you’ll like.”

StumbleUpon Channels is launching with more than 250 channels including ones from Details Magazine, The History Channel, and photo website 500px. For now it’s completely free for brands and celebrities to host channels, but StumbleUpon says it will be selective in giving the green light to prospective channel owners.  This change is great because prior, sites always had to worry about flooding StumbleUpon with too much content, and driving users away, or getting content out there at the right time, but the new StumbleUpon Channels eliminates these worries. In fact, StumbleUpon Channels is essentially encouraging sites to share everything they have by connecting their RSS feeds or Twitter accounts to their channels.

StumbleUpon Channels | How to follow channels

Users of StumbleUpon Channels are able to find and “Follow” a Channel in 3 quick and easy steps:

1. Go to www.stumbleupon.com/channels.
2. Browse through the available sites (www.stumbleupon.com/channels/sites), people (www.stumbleupon.com/channels/people), and brands/products (www.stumbleupon.com/channels/brands-products) to find the Channels that interest you.
3. Once you find a Channel you like – click the “Follow” button, located at the bottom of the Channel name and number of followers.

Voila! You will start seeing great content from that Channel in your stumble stream.

StumbleUpon Channels | How to use for business

According to the StumbleUpon website:   StumbleUpon’s revolutionary platform lets users surf the best of the web by “Stumbling” to sites that match their interests, simply by hitting a button on their browser or mobile device. With Channels, your content becomes part of a user’s streams when they “Follow” your Channel. This means the right audience lands directly on your web pages, videos, and photos, just when they’re in the mindset to discover something new. Followers will also give you valuable feedback (thumbs up / thumbs down) on your content.

You can edit your channel settings after your create a StumbleUpon Channel. Follow the steps listed below to edit channel settings:

1. Go to www.stumbleupon.com/audience-tools/channels/manage.
2. Find the channel you would like to edit and click “Edit Settings”, located below the channel’s display name.
3. Once you are in the “Edit Settings” page, you can edit your channel’s settings.
   • Note: Your short name is not editable. Since short names are used in URLs, once a channel is created, its short name cannot be changed.
4. Click “Save” after you have made your edits.

If you have not specified a feed for your channel or would like to add additional web pages apart from those in your RSS, Twitter, or Facebook feed, follow the steps listed below to manually add web pages to your channel:

1. Go to www.stumbleupon.com/audience-tools/channels/manage.
2. Find the channel you would like to add new content to. Click on the “Add Web Page” link, located below the channel’s display name – next to the “Resources” link.
3. Add a new web page URL, a comment, and select your web page expiration preference.
4. Click “Save”. The new web page will be added to your Channel for your followers to enjoy!

What do you think of the changes at StumbleUpon.com?  Will your business be using StumbleUpon Channels for branding?