For StumbleUpon (SU) users who enjoyed getting traffic from the platform and discovering new, unique content there, – hearing that SU was going away was quite a disappointment. However, the SU creators replaced it with a new app and web extension, the Mix. There’s also a new incentive for influencers to share more content and be featured on the Mix’s social channels. Joanne Kapp is the Manager of Brand Strategy & Agency Relationships for the Mix. She answered the need-to-know questions for influencers who are making the switch from StumbleUpon to Mix, creating new profiles on Mix and add new content, since the deadline to move your content from SU ended June 30, 2018.
1. What prompted the change from SU to Mix?
Recently, the team began focusing on creating a new discovery platform, which incorporated all of the lessons learned from StumbleUpon to take content discovery to the next level. After careful consideration, we’ve made the decision to focus fully on building Mix. By focusing on social components and tools for human curation, we had the opportunity to start fresh.
2. How is Mix different or similar to SU?
We’ve learned from SU that while simplicity and serendipity is important, {so is} enabling human curation (ie. “cute cafes in the US”) instead of just clicking “I like it” or a single button. Mix combines social and semantic signals into one personalized, streamlined experience. It also makes it easier for people to organize content into meaningful collections. You can select to follow a person or just a handful of collections they’ve created that you’re interested in. Over time, Mix learns not only how interested you are in a user’s content, but their specific collections as well. This means you can follow Mary and discover content in her “Summertime Recipes” but not her “Crazy Political Views.”
3. What’s the benefit for content creators and bloggers to use Mix?
Content creators and bloggers play a significant role in our Mix ecosystem and for our growing community. As natural content curators, they know what people want to find, read, and save. Mix helps connect people to the content they’re interested in
To encourage participation from this community, we’ve recently launched a program called the Curator Incentive Program. Content creators, bloggers, or experts in niche areas can apply to be part of this program and earn points for actions taken on Mix. Curator points can then be redeemed for featured placements on the site, in email, on social, and more! To apply to be a curator, you can fill out this form on our community site: https://community.mix.com/blog/2018/7/16/mix-curator-program-playbook
4. Tell us what users can expect when using Mix App and the Mix web extension.
The Mix App is primarily focused on content discovery, allowing you to easily swipe through content one-at-a-time, similar to the StumbleUpon app experience.
The Mix web version looks more like a digital newspaper that recommends content to you based on the interests you select, collections you’re subscribed to, and people you follow. Our browser web extension allows you to easily save and curate content from around the web as you come across it in your day-to-day.
5. Like other social media platforms will the number of followers a Mix user has determine their overall reach?
Popularity and your following is definitely an important factor on social networks, but it will not be the only factor at Mix. We envision a network of like-minded users where each of us can find the content we really care about. Similar to StumbleUpon, we still will rely on users to submit the hidden gems that will otherwise will be lost on the Internet.
What we plan to do better than before is to route these gems to users that are really into them. These hidden treasures are usually not in the mainstream (popular) content but live in niche areas around the web. Through Collections, people can organize content by theme or topic, like “Raising Them Up Right” or “Infrared Photography”, people can then select to subscribe to or only see content about things they’re interested in. You might follow someone on Mix, but only choose to follow them when they post in their photography collection and not their parenting stuff.
6. Here are several tips and best practices when using Mix:
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Use Collections to Save Articles You want to read later or share with your community or followers.
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The FireFox and Chrome extension are great tools to help you quickly add content to Mix or to your collections from anywhere on the web with the click of a button.
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Use Fun and Unique Names for collections. If relevant, your collections will be recommended in the For You stream as well as in the Explore tab.
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Add a variety of content, not just articles from one domain or just your site.
Connect with Mix on Facebook for updates on the curators program.
We observed the major differences between the old and new platforms is that SU encouraged you to give pages “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” while Mix encourages you to save memorable content you discover in a magazine format. Think of it as your own personal magazine of interesting content you may not see elsewhere. New visitors and followers could find you there too!
For example, if you’re working on a round-up post of Back to School organizing tips, you can save your relevant posts on Mix under the same Collection, named “Back to School” or “BTS Tips.”
Have you made the switch from StumbleUpon to Mix?
Comment below: Have you created a new profile on Mix.com? Have you noticed any similarities or differences from StumbleUpon?
Click to Tweet: Do you have questions about the switch from StumbleUpon to Mix? Check out this insightful Q&A from @GetMixApp #MoveToMix via @TheNetworkNiche.
