So, my first site is one that I love to use myself and where I come across some really great Web sites that would ordinarily escape my attention.

Like most people, I tend to have my online ‘comfort zones’ — sites that I visit regularly and don’t stray far from unless I have a reason to. When you want to seek out information on a particular subject, it’s simple enough to hop onto your favourite browser and see what it comes up with, but what if you’ve just got some spare time to explore the Net, but don’t have something specific in mind to search for?

That’s where StumbleUpon comes in.

Just leave yourself in its hands and it will expose you to all those sites that you never knew you wanted to find. And it’s a great way of keeping up with what’s hot on the Net, as site members — there are over 8 million of them—recommend their own favourite sites. Let’s face it, you can’t keep up with the vastness of the Net by yourself, so it makes sense to enlist the help of others to find its hidden gems.

You can browse thumbnails of site members’ recommendations to find items of interest. You can also choose to type in a keyword and click on the Stumble! button for one random result, or on Search for a selection of results, each with a thumbnail of the site.

If you want to have a totally random Net experience — kind of like an online lucky dip — just leave the search box empty and click on the Stumble! button. This is what I like to do when I’m at a loose end or looking for some cyber inspiration.

If you sign up to StumbleUpon (it’s free), you can give your own recommendations, rate those of others, and save your favourites.

To find out more about how StumbleUpon works, check out the ‘How Do I…?’ links on the bottom right of the home page.

StumbleUpon