What is Tumblr? Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users’ blogs, as well as make their blogs private.
Problem with Tumblr
Tumbler, like Instagram & Facebook has also received criticism for the ability of bloggers to violate copyright. Tumblr’s visual appeal has made it a haven for photoblogs, which often times include copyrighted work from others and publishing them without payment. Tumblr users are able to post content that isn’t their own by re-blogging. Re-blogging involves presseing a buttong that allows users to re-post content that they found on a blog which they subscribe to, onto their own blog.
Widgets
Just like WordPress Tumblr allows users to add widgets that allow to add things that make their website that little bit unique such as twitter feeds, livestream apps or music players that being playing music when other users view their blog.
Combining Twitter with WordPress
That is how I would describe Tumblr really..a blogging platform with social media principles. If you are user of Twitter you will know that to get people to follow you you are best finding people that have the same interests as you & then they are likely to follow you back too and increase your fan base getting your content more noticed. How do you find people to follow? There is a “explore” button on the dashboard where you will find lots of interesting topics that people tag their blog post in.
Tag, your it!
What is tagging I hear you say? Every time you post something i recommend putting some keywords in the tagging box. Basically what this does is act like a keyword so that it makes your content easier to find. Say someone is looking for flowers and your blog post is a picture of one then one tag you would use is obviously “flower” and you may get discovered by that searcher.
Oi ! I posted that!
Get used to feeling like this! People will repost your things if they like it, thats the whole point of tumblr, its blogging but with a difference. It gets shared easily and quickly and you may often find things you have created in other peoples blogs. If you do this correcty it can create a larger following on your own blog and if you have a website, it could even direct people to your site too! More traffic? Now that can’t be bad can it!
RSS me baby!!
not much time to create stuff for your blog? No problem! Other people can put things on your blog through rss feeds, you can simply set up different rss feeds to appear on your blog in the preferences setting.
To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question!
Every time you blog on your Tumblr account you can choose whether to immediately share it on twitter & facebook but if you blog a lot on tumblr it could annoy your twitter followers..i know if i see over 10 posts in one go on twitter it can make me quite irritated especially if i am not interested in the first tweet they put ( sorry to sound moody, but its true for most users! 🙂 )
Wow big blog! Its just like a book
When you have a lot of pages then you can even get it published into a book! Now that is pretty cool isn’t it!
Is it for me?
The thing about Tumblr is it is a combination of WordPress ( a mainstream open source blogging CMS platform for those who know a little bit of code ) and Twitter, combining people who are interested in the same things as you…but the good thing is it is so very very simple. It is ideal for those who have lots of photos to share and are inspired by quotes and such like. If you aren’t ready for hardcore blogging like what I am doing here Tumblr is for those taking the step up from twitter & facebook amongst friends to start gaining a larger voice in their world community. [divider style=”1″]
How do I use it?
I use it to post my works and become inspired by others works and show appreciation to others and promote the work of those I admire and useful things I find along the way…I think they key to a good internet is a true bohemian heart, free love, free information & free creativity. Yes we all need to make a living but if you truly want to make an impact in the world and offer something of value to people then free is the best place to start…when you have a big enough following then you can consider selling some of your things to your close nit fans. I hope this blog post has helped you in undrestanding tumblr a bit more…if you are still unsure how tumblr works you can visit my site here : – http://jawilson-design.tumblr.com/ or alternatively just set up your own tumblr account ( it even comes with an app for easy uploads! ). Happy blogging! 🙂