Tumblr backend
I’d heard great feedback about Tumblr from people I respect: Gary Vaynerchuk‘s blog is on Tumblr; This is Why You’re Fat started out as a Tumblr blog and grew crazy fast; I Am Neurotic started as a Tumblr blog (though she’s now switched it over to a WordPress) — which all lead me to want to know more.
I asked two people to start Tumblr blogs and let me know what they thought (medium tech-savvy people) — and they both came back to me saying the same thing: “I don’t get it.”
I had to it try myself.
So I started a little experimental blog called The Things We Love List — the concept being a “family blog” where we could each post stuff we like. (So far I’m the only one who’s participating, by the way, though they seemed to like the concept in theory.)
I’ve spent the weekend playing around with all of the Tumblr features, and even coached a friend who’s very new to the internet to start a blog on Tumblr.
Here are my 5 quick & dirty observations:
1) It is so easy to make a blog on Tumblr that looks professional with great layout and video and photos and quotes and musings……that it makes Facebook look like it’s for techies.
2) While Tumblr may not have all of the capabilities of WordPress, it does have other great features such as “reblog” and “follow” (similar to Twitter). What it lacks in fancy features it makes up for with simplicity and ease of use.
3) The reblog function is really cool. It actually makes it so that you can really easily update your blog simply by reblogging other people’s stuff……which brings me to my next observation:
4) Tumblr is actually a hybrid. Think Twitter (“reblog” is “retweet;” plus the “follow” feature) meets Facebook (share your photos, videos,etc.) mixed with a more traditional blog where you can post your musings for anybody to see. I think this hybrid quality is what confused the people I sent to make Tumblr blogs. It’s almost as if it needs a new category and can’t be classified in the “blog” department. There’s something very social about it.
5) The back end is not technical looking at all, like WordPress or Typepad — it’s more like a Facebook Twitter feed of the people you’re following’s posts. The back end is someplace you would go to spend time like you would on Facebook, and choose what you want to “reblog” for your public persona, like Twitter.
My very first impression, when I saw how easy it is to use (think Blogging for Dummies) and absorbed the viral power potential of the reblog and follow functions — I had one of those “the earth moved again” moments. Later on I saw that you can get your Twitter feed right in Tumblr, add the app to your phone, call in blog posts on your cell phone, send them out from instant message — and I thought for sure this is the next big thing.
We’ll see! I definitely recommend others give it a whirl. There is no reason in mid-2009 that you can’t start your own blog on Tumblr. Trust me, if Debralyn Press did it, you can too.
