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Tumblr : the perfect combination of blogging & microblogging
May 11th, 2009
Without much advertising, I recently started a tumblr blog called ishare. I didn’t really talk about it until now because I wanted to test the platform and see if there was any benefit for me and of course, you. The reason I started a tumblr blog is that I had to solve a problem: how to reach the perfect combination of blogging and microblogging while still owning my content and providing value. For example, I love to share links on twitter, but 140 chars is very limited and it doesn’t allow me to comment and give my opinion on what I’m sharing. On top of that, it’s usually not worth it to blog about what I’m sharing on twitter as my comments would generally be one or two paragraphs. Finally, it’s important for me to own my content, I don’t like to give away too much content & traffic without receiving anything back eventually. So, how is it possible to microblog, blog, share material and own your content all at the same time? A tumblr blog.
Tumblr
Tumblr is not a traditional blogging platform even if it looks like it. At the same time, it is not a traditional microblogging platform like twitter. Tumblr allows you to share text, photos, quotes, links, audio and video all very easily and quicker than a Wordpress post.
You can add a Tumblr button in your browser toolbar to quickly share a link or a video. If you’re on YouTube, it will automatically detect you want to share a video so it will embed the video for you and let you add a comment. This means you can share just about anything within a couple of seconds/minutes.
Tumblr just makes your life easier when it comes to sharing links, text, photos and videos, that’s the strength of the platform. You can of course setup a connection between tumblr and twitter so that everything you post on tumblr is automatically posted on twitter if you like that kind of things.
ishare – Bringing value to what I share
I personally use tumblr to bring additional value to what I share. I like sharing links and videos on twitter, but 140 characters is too short for me to properly comment and give my opinion on what I share. Today for example, I posted a video of Gary Vaynerchuk on my Tumblr blog (ishare) with a short comment:
My comment was too long for twitter and too short for a blog post, so I posted it on ishare and shared the link on twitter. This way, I gave credit to Gary for his great video and it allowed me to properly comment and give my opinion.
Tumblr is what you want it to be
I use Tumblr on ishare as a way to combine regular blogging and microblogging, but you can really do whatever you want with tumblr. You can make it a microblog or a regular blog. In fact, Tumblr is what Gary Vaynerchuk uses on his main blog at garyvaynerchuk.com and it looks like a traditional blog, so it is very flexible.
Limitations
I wouldn’t use tumblr for a main blog for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s not a standalone system like Wordpress that you can install on your own server. A tumblr blog is hosted by tumblr, but you can of course have your own domain name pointing to it. The fact it’s not hosted on your own server makes it a bit less flexible. From a SEO point of view it’s also not very good and there is no plugin that can be installed to solve this. It is not that bad, but it could be better.
The theme system is bit weird and I can’t say I love it or hate it. It’s just OK.
As you use it, you will see some of the limitations compared to let’s say a Wordpress blog, but if you want to share some material quickly like me, it’s the best platform.
It’s not a blogging or a microblogging platform, it’s tumblr. I could go on and on, but the best way to understand tumblr is to try it.
Tumblr experiences
Do you have any tumblr experience to share? Let us know.
8 Responses to “Tumblr : the perfect combination of blogging & microblogging”
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i will be very sincere saying that this is the first time i have heard about it
like you said it sounds a much more iproved adn usefull alternative to twitter
and the fact that i can like all of them(site twityer tumblr) is awesome
I have the feeling not many people know about it. It's not an alternative to twitter, it's more a complement. Try it, it's pretty good.
Hi,
This is cool! No need to go through pages I don’t want to read. Why I never thought of it before. Two thumbs up!
i currently use it and love it its got a lot of decent options
[...] freedom to share your links in a fun and customized [...]
Tumblr is quite good for blogging, But live journal and twitter get more users and visitors through. Because they used to market product and services online very familiar.
It is so nice. I love it.
I’d sweetie to match regular with that too!