StumbleUpon refresh improves brand connectivity
StumbleUpon, the social web discovery portal, has completed a substantial redesign including a new logo and channel feature to give brands a greater role.
The new look sees the previous green and blue initials ditched in favour of a more abstract orange logo and visually led navigation.
The biggest new addition to the sites functionality comes in the form of a “Channels” feature which allows brands, publications and famous faces to promote themselves directly on the platform.
This is despite business accounts being explicitly banned by the sites terms of service.
To soften up users these channels won’t appear on users “discover” feeds unless they’ve specifically signed up for them and even then only content which the website deems relevant will be shown.
A new Explore box has also been incorporated which allows users to specify specific topics rather than broad categories has also been introduced.
StumbleUpon chief Garrett Camp said: “Users had the expectation that they would see an individual acting on good will to share a piece of content rather than a for-profit company promoting a piece of content for selfish reasons. Now we have a place where it’s ok for users to publish their own things.”