After getting started on StumbleUpon by creating your profile, finding others to follow and thumbing up some articles and photos that you love, you are ready to take your use of StumbleUpon to the next level: sending and accepting article shares through the toolbar.

With Whom Can You Share Articles

Remember the advisement to click the “Accept Shares from the Toolbar” check box beneath a user’s Follow button? In order to share your own content with those who you follow and who follow you back, both users need to have that Accept Shares button checked.

To view those with whom you have a mutual share agreement, click on the Followers tab on your Profile page. Anywhere that you see the symbol with the red and green arrows means that you have mutual share.

Sending Shares with the StumbleUpon Toolbar

The StumbleUpon toolbar looks like this when installed onto Google Chrome:

If you click on the “Share” button, it expands to what you see below.

If you want to share a post with other Stumblers, you can search by “Most Shared” or “All Contacts” and then mark the checkbox next to the names of those who you want to receive your article link. There is also a space to the right of your Stumbler contacts where you can leave an optional message that will accompany your share.

Important Note: This is where the “Accept Shares from the Toolbar” clicks come into play. Only the stumblers with whom have a mutual share agreement will be seen in these contact lists.

From the toolbar, you also have the option to send your link (and an optional message) via email, Facebook share, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Receiving Shares from the StumbleUpon Toolbar

There are a few different ways you may be notified that a fellow Stumbler wants to share an article with you. You may notice a red box with a number in your browser bar.

Or you may notice the button in your StumbleUpon toolbar attempting to notify you that shares await your perusal.

In either of these cases, you can click on the notification/button and you’ll be presented – one article at a time – with pages that were sent to you for you to consider “liking”.

Another way to receive notifications is through email.

Simply follow the link and decide whether or not you want to thumb it up.

Have you tried sharing posts or other web pages you love with fellow Stumblers?

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This is the 2nd in a series of posts about how to use StumbleUpon.