Tumbling

Tumblr logo

Back in 2008 a friend introduced me to a website called Tumblr. I was curious as to how it would relate to the blogging site I had used prior, and I quickly found out it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.  It was not quite like Xanga or Blogger, but I made use of it in that way for a short while. It took me some getting used to but eventually I decided that it was much more efficient and I could get my thoughts across much better and I was actually able to find other tumblelogs that I was interested in. Instead of being a true blogging website, Tumblr falls more along the lines of microblogging. The text posts tend to be much shorter and to the point. Users can also post individual images, video, or audio tracks to their tumblelog. Tumblr is highly comparable to twitter with a few exceptions, the main being the ability to share more than 140 characters in every post. You can share any thought, any media, and any question with however many followers you have at any moment. Everything you post and that your followers post is shown collectively on your dashboard. While Tumblr is widely used for microblogging and almost more as a social networking site, there are serious bloggers that use it as their platform. It isn't limited to people that want to share short quips about life and post things in a more convenient way. Tumblr users are also able to send and receive asks and fan mail. Asks are short questions that can be sent either anonymously (and sometimes this isn't the best option to enable due to hate mail) or from your username and you can either post it to your Tumblr or send a private response. Fan mail is the same but can not be posted to your blog, it can only be replied to privately. I, personally, follow many blogs that help to keep me educated on things that I care about such as politics, queer education, sex education, and so many others. That's another thing about Tumblr, if you have an interest in it there is probably a tumblelog in existence with the exact content you are looking for. For anyone that does not believe me, here is a wide variety of Tumblr pages that may help convince you:

• One Tiny Hand
  You won't be able to stop laughing at this for days. It's a collection of your favorite celebrities, politicians, and television stars with one hand photoshopped to be very tiny.
• Barack Obama 2012
  If you want to keep up with Obama's presidential campaign on your Tumblr dashboard this fall, a good Tumblelog to follow would definitely be this one.
• EatSleepDraw
  This tumblelog is wonderful for artists on Tumblr. You can submit your work and share it as well as following other artists.
• The Daily What
  The Daily What has everything from daily news to funny cat videos and everything in between.

Those are just a few of the tumblelogs that there are to follow. The count is nearly at 75 million blogs and is growing by the day.

Icons for the different types of Tumblr posts

There are several posting options on Tumblr as I brought up before. The first and most popular are, of course, text posts. You can create read more links that help keep your followers from having to scroll forever if you have a long post, one that is triggering, or if you feel that the post itself needs one. Image posts are also awfully popular, especially since you can post photo sets. Multiple images are able to be combined as one post instead of having to make an individual entry for each image that you have. The third icon is for quotes, then links follow that, chats between you and your friends or conversations that you've heard or just want to share, audio, and video. Tumblr even provides each account an email and phone number so you can use your phone to call in a voice entry on your tumblelog, or send a post through email if you don't have access to the website. You have so many options for posting any kind of media you want to on Tumblr which makes the site extremely functional and universally friendly. You can save any post as a draft, queue it for later so you aren't posting so many things in quick succession, make your posts private so only you can view them, and you can even set a post to submit on a specific date and time. Tagging, giving sources, creating click-through links, and many other features are also included. Also, while making original posts is fun you have the option to reblog posts from people you follow and share them with those who follow you.

Views of each screen on the iPhone app (high res)

The developers for Tumblr created an iPhone app, as well as one for Android users, that comes in a lot of handy. It allows for easy blogging on the go so long as you have internet access, and if you don't you can save the posts for later. You can see your dashboard and like, reblog, or reply to posts. There are options for all posts but you can swipe up to take a quick photo, or from right to left to make a text post while on any screen in the application. There is also a screen where you can see new followers, notifications on all of your posts, and even check and reply to messages that people may have sent you. The only drawback is that if you get fan mail you can not see it on the app.

There are endless other perks you can take advantage of with Tumblr. You can add on multiple connected tumblelogs to your main account. There are links to view each blog on the dashboard in your web browser as well as on the iPhone and Android applications. They can be either public or private and password protected like your primary blog as well. It's really nice to be able to attach the blogs so that you don't have to log in and out of each one. Every time you make a post it gives you the option to change what tumblelog it is going to post to. The interface of Tumblr is also one of the most user friendly that I have come across. It is very straightforward and laid out so that even the newest of users can figure it out within a short period of time. Everything is pretty clearly labelled, not always with text but with images that clearly show what you are about to click on.

Along with the perks, Tumblr can also have a few negative impacts on your life and how you manage your time. It's so easy to lose track of time when you're reading posts, looking at pictures, watching videos, and listening to music. It makes for great procrastination but it can hurt in the long run if you're on a time crunch to get anything done.

The mobile applications also keep you distracted when you're not at your computer. Another aspect that is not the most fun to deal with is the anonymous hate that can come through your message inbox. It's nice that you can disable the anonymous feature to shut out the people with negative views of your tumblelog.

Despite the hateful users, Tumblr is also a great place to get acquainted with other people. You will find followers and people to follow that have the same interests as you. I've made several friends through tumbling and they have added so much to my life. I've become more aware of certain issues and found out that I'm not alone in my quirks and interests. Some of the persons I've met on Tumblr are strictly online friends and others I have met in person and become extremely close with. I actually met my ex-girlfriend on Tumblr and we were together for two years.

It's interesting how many different types of people you can come across and how much you can learn just from a microblogging website. Just like any other website it has its ups and downs, but overall the good tends to outweigh the bad. It just depends on how well the interface works for each individual person and their blogging needs.