Whatever Happened To StumbleUpon, And Did It Shut Down?

The Internet is a curious place. It is, at once, home to all the information you could ever need, and all the information you could ever not need. Sadly for productivity levels, certain websites boast features tailored to draw us off track at every turn.

Google's famous I'm Feeling Lucky button, which takes users directly to whichever website was the top result for their search, also has functions like I'm Feeling Artistic (delivers you to a piece of art from Google Arts & Culture) and I'm Feeling Hungry (a search for "dinner recipes"). The Wikipedia "from today's featured article" section will similarly bring you information on the most random topics. Fans of such features will fondly recall a particular browser extension called StumbleUpon. With a click of the Stumble button, it deposited users onto a website relating to their previous search and browser history (make of this what you will), and a community developed around the practice of comparing notes as to where StumbleUpon brought them.

Like hours spent feverishly editing the HTML code on MySpace to make the words on your profile page flash different colors (yes, you can still find your MySpace profile), StumbleUpon is a relic of a simpler internet time. If you're wondering what happened to it, here's the sad story.

In 2007, a version of Stumble Video was created that worked with an unexpected browser: Opera, through the Nintendo Wii, another popular culture titan of the time. It didn't only function on the console, it had an exclusive interface created for it, according to CNET. The next year, StumbleUpon celebrated five billion uses of its fun little Stumble feature.

As usage steered more toward the mobile market, changes had to be made. On the subject of a large staff cut in January 2013, CFO Mark Buttels told Tech Crunch that StumbleUpon wasn't in a money crisis, but that "the board and the leadership team here want to be an independent entity. We're not looking at strategic options right now," seemingly taking a potential buyout (such as eBay's short-lived acquisition) off the table.

The service continued to perform well, but technology would be its downfall. The 2010s were a competitive time, and creative features like the Trending section would be implemented in other services. StumbleUpon's niche, really, ceased to be unique, and Garrett Camp left as CEO in May 2012. He reacquired his share a few years later, according to Product Mint, but personally announced in May 2018 that StumbleUpon would shut down and accounts would switch to Mix.com. "We've made the decision to focus fully on building Mix and transition StumbleUpon accounts into Mix.com over the next couple months," Camp wrote in a blog post.