Social network discovery platform StumbleUpon has fired 35 of its employees, reducing 30 percent of its staff as the social platform attempts to streamline its business.
StumbleUpon spokesman Mike Mayzel says the firing were necessary so the company could ?become more streamlined [and] focused.”
In 2012 StumbleUpon continued to lose traffic referrals to Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit and other up and coming social stars. StumbleUpon traffic was down by more than half in 2012.
In an attempt to attract a new audience StumbleUpon underwent a major redesign in late 2012, utilizing many of the design features found on other Web 2.0 competitors.?
With 30 percent of its workforce now exiting the firm Mayzel claims:
?As a result of these changes, the company will be profitable and will operate more quickly and efficiently and experiment more aggressively.”
At this time it is still unclear how StumbleUpon will “experiment more aggressively.”
Social interaction on social websites is a likely precursor for the company’s new direction. Reddit has largely become successful because of the community it has created, in comparison StumbleUpon users tend to aimlessly stumble pages with little to no interaction among users.
What would you like to see StumbleUpon accomplish with its “more aggressive” approach.
