With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.
With all the content on the Web, wouldn't it be nice if your friends could sort through it all and let you know which ones are worth viewing? That's the idea behind StumbleUpon, which its General Manager, Michael Buhr, described to me as follows, "StumbleUpon -- which eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) bought for $75 million in May 2007 -- is an internet community that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos. It is a personalized recommendation engine that uses peer- and social-networking principles."
Here's how it works -- as Buhr said, "Web pages are presented when the user clicks the "Stumble!" button on the browser's toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which Web page to display based on the user's ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests. Users can rate or choose not to rate any Web page (with a 'Thumbs Up' or 'Thumbs Down'). Clicking the Stumble! button resembles 'channel-surfing' the Web. StumbleUpon also allows its users to indicate their interests from a list of nearly 500 topics, to produce relevant content for the user."
StumbleUpon -- the fourth largest search engine in terms of queries -- gets revenues from advertising. According to Buhr, "We have a unique business model. StumbleUpon gets a small percentage of its targeted content paid for by advertisers. For example, if I am interested in photography, when I view related content, a photography magazine or a photo blogger may pay to serve an advertisement when I view related content. The advertiser self-serves -- adding the URL for their ad that StumbleUpon will serve when the member views the related content."
"The advertiser is paying to include its advertisement in the StumbleStream. Furthermore, our members rate the content of the advertisement and determine the relevance of the ad. 'Thumbs Up' gets the ad more traffic and 'Thumbs Down' reduces the number of viewers. We have a flat rate system of 5 cents per view per visit."
With an endless stream of new content being produced daily, I'd give StumbleUpon's market opportunity a thumbs up!
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book is You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-06-2009 @ 11:55AM
Ronald Olson said...
I just don't get . Why would we give up on are country . When down just walk on us .