I’m usually very sceptical about any startup jumping on the gravy-train of giants like StumbleUpon, and it was no different when I was tipped off about YouLicit. I wasn’t expecting much, but it seems my scepticism was unfounded as I installed the plug-in and began playing with the site.

Sign-up took about 3 seconds, the plugin is nice and compact, and the site itself, while not particularly engaging is nice to look at, and childsplay to use. The site works in a very similar way to StumbleUpon; the 3 button plug-in allows you to stumble find random sites, recommend things that interest you, and unlike it’s better-known rival, you can also click through to a series of sites related to the one you’re on.

YouLicit lacks the ’stickyness’ of StumbleUpon, with it’s on-site browsing and user interaction, but it’s still early days and has a lot of catching up to do. That said, the user experience is a good one, and unusually - the plug-in won’t be uninstalled when I’ve finished writing this review.

Can YouLicit compete with StumpleUpon? Not yet, but I also don’t think it needs to. YouLicit favours functionality over social interaction, and this could lead the two in very different directions.