This infographic has been broken up into 3 parts, all relating to my favorite social media use: Stumble Upon!
Stumble upon is clearly addictive. It is it’s own network, it’s own community, it’s own culture. While it may not interact with other social media as easily (though I purposely got Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook bookmarking tools for this function), Stumble Upon is an enthusiastic island in the sea of the web.
Why this infographic is perfect: it clearly describes the internal nature of Stumble Upon. You either Stumble, or you don’t, and the sharp contrasts between the cool colors of more popular social media sites and the bright orange of the SU logo is a great way to highlight their differences. The graphs are clean, comparative and downright sexy.
This chopped up little visual also helps describes McLuhan’s media theory of “hot” and “cool” media. Hot media carries a more defined message using substantial stimulus. Film, radio, lectures and photography are all examples of hot media, because you can interpret the narrative of hot media more easily than cool media. Cool media demands more conscious interpretation and participation on the part of the viewer, for example, with TV or a seminar.
Stumble Upon is hot (excellently referred to with the color palette), because you can read and click and read and click and sometimes share, but you don’t have to. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. all require you to post information about yourself, to update and communicate with others. There’s really no point otherwise. Here’s to finding media theory in the simplest of visuals!
