Stumbling Onto Web Treasure

Wow. Am I tired. I stumbled onto StumbleUpon last night, staggering bleary-eyed into bed at 2:00 a.m. Even then, I could barely tear myself away from the computer (not a good sign). Actually, I've been aware of this site for a while as I have noticed traffic originating there in my stats. Last night, I decided to take the time to explore it. My surfing habits will never be the same again, thanks to this Web 2.0 service.

Like Digg, del.icio.us, and many others, StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking tool that allows users to tag and rate recommended sites and build community around themes. It offers a huge selection of categories, which you can explore from a toolbar. The system learns your preferences quickly, and you are presented with a limitless selection of quality sites on any subject that interests you.

Unlike typical traffic exchanges, there's no timer, no advertising or spam sites, and no junk. The stumbled upon sites are fun and innovative, with good spam control and no annoying pop-ups. I made the mistake of exploring the photography category, and spent several hours stumbling through some exquisite eye candy. Here are just two of the many gems I discovered:

• Robert Postma's Distant Horizons
• Scott Stulberg (words fail me)

Stay tuned for more great photographic finds and other social bookmarking tools. And if you enjoyed this post, sign up for our feed for more on this topic.