In essence, microblogging on Tumblr is simply a convenient way to share content that is more extensive than a social network update (a la Facebook or Twitter) but that is less in depth than a traditional blog post.
Overview
So you’ve looked over the benefits and are considering using a tumblelog/microblog. There are many options out there today in the emerging world of tumblelogs, but by far the most popular option (at least today!) is Tumblr.
Tumblr is a start-up from New York that focuses on capitalizing on the recent demand for a quicker and more concise blogging experience known as tumblelogs or microblogging.
Tumblr descibes itself as the “Easiest Way To Blog
Most are exactly what they sounds like, for instance ‘Chat’ is setup for you to input a conversation you had with someone, and with ‘Video’ you can either upload one of your own videos or just copy the video’s link (such as on YouTube).
Tumblr finds most of it’s userbase focusing on Photos (by a large margin), small Text updates and Quotes, and occasionally other forms of content.
Any of these updates can be reblogged, which is essentially sharing any content you find on someone’s Tumblr on your own Tumblr, very similar to ‘ReTweeting.’
Tumblr posts can also be liked, similar to Facebook’s feature, where the post does not appear on your blog unless you have a theme that supports ‘My Likes’, which will list all of the things you have recently ‘liked’ (more on that in a later post).
There are some notable advantages to using Tumblr over a traditional blogging platform:
- Simplicity: Many postings on Tumblr can be described as “short and sweet.” A blog post on Tumblr is far less extensive than a traditional blog and sharing your thoughts or photos or even interesting things that you have found is much easier through Tumblr’s organized dashboard.
- Followers: Rather than being forced to subscribe to your blog via feeds or email subscriptions, Tumblr users can follow you (such as on Twitter) and any of your postings will automatically appear on their dashboard feed, making getting your content out very simple to other Tumblr users.
- Customization: While WordPress leads the front on sheer amount of customizable options, Tumblr blogs have taken an early lead for the most unique. Rarely can a traditional blog support the different themes that Tumblr blogs have been able to establish, from blogs focusing on short blurbs to video only blogs to hosting a portfolio, Tumblr blogs are very creative.
- Reblogging: Besides having your content shared through traditional means, Tumblr provides an excellent way to share your content (especially photos) through having othe rusers reblog your posts, something that can (with any luck) spread your posts to a larger audience like brushfire.
Concluding
I personally feel Tumblr is a great new platform for sharing that takes a decidely nice balance between the shallowness of services like Twitter and the often over exhaustive posts of traditional blogs.
Although there will always be a spot for more traditional blogs (especially those that are focused and provide insightful information), Tumblr I feel is the next logial step for personal blogging, with it’s short updates and categorized format perfectly suited for those just looking to share a bit of themselves.
Hello! Nice info.
I have not been able to find the answer to a question. My own 2-day old Tumblr:
http://theslumberingherd.tumblr.com/
is mostly for my artwork. (I also have an Etsy shop and a blog.)
My question: I have been using the “Photo” option to post artwork, and then if there’s text I use the caption part of the photo. Is this totally wrong way? Should I be posting text and inserting an image? Well, maybe there isn’t a completely *wrong* way, but is one way better?
Also, do I make the artwork clickable and also add a clickable link in the text?
Thank you for your help! Your site was the easiest to post a question.
Hello Cindy, thanks for your comment and kind words.
As for your question, I guess it would depend on what I would consider the “better” option.
Generally speaking, text posts are better for SEO purposes (as in getting found in Google and such) because they include a title, whereas photo posts do not.
However, with Tumblr one can spread your presence without much assistance needed from search engine optimization, because of reblogs and ‘likes’ which most blogging platforms do not have. So my answer to this is that it is really up to you, and the differences are negligible, minus the SEO benefits of text posts that I mentioned above.
As for links, you can add a “source” link whenever you post a new image, but not in a text post (I don’t believe, I’d have to double check). So that may be a benefit of using a photo post.
You could put a link in the “source” box back to your Etsy page or your main blog, and then when people click on the image they will be taken to those pages (great way to get more visitors to your other sites possibly). You could also put the “source” link as your Tumblr blog’s URL, so people will click back to that if they find an image.
If you link back using the source box, and it’s an item that you sell (such as on Etsy), I would link directly to the sales page (ie where they can buy it) because someone might see your creation and want to make a purchase, so you need to make it as easy as possible for them (remember that you can add text to a Photo post as well, maybe putting something like “If you are interested in purchasing this, please click [here]“)
Hope that helps! Feel free to ask anything else, and good luck with your blog and Etsy sales!
Ah, it’s as I suspected: try stuff out and decide which I like best. Thanks for answering!