Tumblr Rhett and Laura Evaluation

Rhett Dunn-Sperling & Laura Myers

Hill

ENG 1O1

4 November 2013

Tumblr Evaluation

        In college, most students find themselves looking for a way to escape the piles of homework they have and the stress that comes with it. A website that is quintessential for this is Tumblr. Tumblr is a social blogging platform that allows users to upload pictures, videos, follow other users, and engage in communities without some of the annoying constraints found on other social media websites, such as Twitter or Facebook. Tumblr has been growing rapidly over the years and is continually expanding. I know, it is yet another social media website. There is, however, one very distinct difference between Tumblr and websites like Facebook, Twitter or even Google+. Tumblr is FUN. You won’t get annoying updates from the family members that you reluctantly added on Facebook. Twitter limits your characters to 140 during a tweet, or a status update. Not enough people are even available on Google+ for the website to take off. Tumblr allows you to follow blogs you are interested in and you do not even have to follow back the people that follow you. You can post as much as you want and as many times as you please. More than 30 million users are registered on Tumblr, making it one of the more prosperous blogging sites. Tumblr is a useful website for anyone, particularly college students, who want to release some of the stress from their day or just want to explore the many blogs that it holds within its website. It’s customizable, easy-to-use, and simple.

Tumblr's goal is a simple one: to make blogging and communication easy and limitless. The massive community uses the site to share opinions, news, art and best of all, funny animal GIFs (GIF stands for graphics interchange format, or a short, 5 second video with no sound). The site expands the limits of traditional blogging by using a hash tag system similar to Twitter's, allowing users to see content from all around the world. The posts can range from being rolling on the floor laughing, to serious, to uplifting content.

The initial view when you open up the homepage is a login screen with a miscellaneous background photo or even a GIF that fellow bloggers have posted. The first priority a new user should complete when you open up the Tumblr homepage is to make an account. While it is possible for one to explore Tumblr without an account, it is easily accessible and more organized to join. All one has to do is create a username and after this step you are officially a member of the Tumblr community. After that you pick a theme for your own personal blog and you are set to explore! The homepage for users is called a “dashboard” where users can view the most recent posts from blogs that they follow. The dashboard features a live feed the user can continually refresh in order to stay current with the people you are following. The blogs that you can follow range anywhere from fashion blogs to humor blogs to sex blogs, making Tumblr very versatile. When people reblog you, someone else will reblog them too and hence there are high chances of your content getting high “notes” (number of times you have been reblogged) and going viral on Tumblr. You can even have your custom domain on Tumblr and pay to get premium themes just like you would do for your Word Press or BlogSpot blog. Tumblr is perfect for those who want to blog but don’t want to write extensive and long articles. And what is more, Tumblr can be an excellent photo blog.

Tumblr’s layout is very simple. The background is a dark blue so it doesn’t strain your eyes. When you have an account on Tumblr, your dashboard is displayed in a straight line so it’s very easy to scroll through. When you don’t have an account, posts are put into rows of 10, making it more hectic to look at. This is a tactic Tumblr employees use in order for more people to sign up to have a customizable homepage. The posts throughout Tumblr are displayed on a white background to offset with the navy, making the texts easier to read and bringing clarity to the photographs being viewed.

Within only the first few days of actively using Tumblr, the user will realize what an amazing place the site is for meeting new people who share your interests. In days you can begin to receive messages from people saying they liked your blog or even you can get curious people inquiring to know more about your personality. People are willing to share ideas on potential projects and can be very inspiring, which is another reason this site is centered on college-aged adults. People can help you think of that interesting topic you need for your English paper or maybe help with that one cumbersome math problem. Tumblr is an amazingly creative community acting as a melting pot where people can contribute with a variety of interests. It is a great way to discover the people with the same interests as you, connect with others around the world, inspire one another and share your work—regardless of your niche.

Once you begin following more creative people on Tumblr, you can be amazed at the vast amount of interaction on your posts through users liking and rebloging. Hundreds of people can like and share posts with their friends—a whole lot more than you see liking people’s photos and videos on Facebook or retweeting people’s tweets on Twitter. These people who have over 100,000 followers spend excessive amounts of time on Tumblr and take it seriously. Their blogs are usually built upon daily and any post that is added is sure to receive over 10,000 notes within the first hour.  If you put in hard work and have trendy content, it is almost effortless to become viral. Tumblr is one of the few sites that offer the possibility of exploring people’s personalized blogs from all around the world.

Another great aspect about Tumblr is that it is easy to undertake multiple blogs under one email. What makes Tumblr stand above the rest of the social networking sites is that it is so simple for any user to manage. The way that bloggers are able to create multiple accounts and manage them simultaneously from a single dropdown menu is effortless and convenient. You can potentially create numerous unique Tumblr blogs, each to represent a single interest (i.e. videos, social media, dogs, bologna sandwiches) and painlessly switch between them to add content with a touch of a button.

It is very expeditious and straightforward to update your Tumblr, which is yet another special attribute about the site. In a few clicks you can add text, photographs, quotes, links, chat, audio files, or video files. At first it can be frustrating that Tumblr separates the media into categories. However, Tumblr can be thought as less of a blogging platform and more of a place to tumble (i.e. the name “Tumblr”) together and share media with anyone who is interested. A single picture, video or quote may get more likes and reblogs than a full, traditional blog post. You can also write something on another blogging website and share the link on Tumblr for your followers to see.

It’s also beneficial that Tumblr is kept consistent throughout multiple platforms. It makes it easy for users to post without having to visit the Tumblr website from a computer. You can post from your mobile phone or device or even post directly from your email. When you sign up with Tumblr they send you an email address where you can send text, photos, quotes or MP3s and they will appear on your blog. This makes it accessible to post and view Tumblr from anywhere in the world—all that is needed is an Internet connection.

Numerous people are concerned with the design and style of their blog and Tumblr has an endless amount of beautiful templates and layouts. Of course, some of the best templates cost money, but a majority of the free ones available to all users are acceptable. There’s something about Tumblr that says, “Hey, look at me! I’m cool, I’m hip!” that Word Press, Type Pad and Blogger are unable to compete with. The three seem drab and outdated compared to Tumblr’s expressive and inviting layout.

With all the great features about Tumblr, there has to be a few downfalls. Although Tumblr is known for it’s simple blogging process and layout, innumerable people find that it can be monotonous and refuse to look further into Tumblr. The quality of the result is directly linked to the information that the blogger contributes to the website. Another is that Tumblr can be very overwhelming when you haven’t checked it over a week. There are hundreds and hundreds of blogs that can pile up and is usually impossible to view every post depending on how many bloggers you follow.
Tumblr is a great website to pass time with, whether it be solely for blogging or finding new funny photos to show your friends. It has many great features that appeal to college students, such as it is easy to operate and is available on all platforms, such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones. Tumblr's few downfalls do not retract from the overall quality of this useful and stylish website. Tumblr is available for bloggers around the world wishing to contribute their artistic opinion or any other content they desire to share.