can someone please explain how to use tumblr to me?

[roseynosey]

my friend signed m up for tumblr about a year ago but only recently have i wanted to get into it. i went on it the other day, and i have no idea how to use it. i need someone to explain how to do everything. what do i do, generally?
what is my dashboard?
how to i post things?
how can i get more followers?

i want to get into the fandom side of tumblr, like sherlock, supernatural, teen wolf etc.

also, where do i find gifs?

if anyone can explain (fairly simply) the features of tumblr that wuld be AMAZING!!! thanks x

[Aisu]

Tumblr may seem hectic and crazy at first but, in all honesty, you just need to take a couple minutes to mess around with it It's not really like other social network sites because it's basis is a blog; that's really what tumblr is, a massive collection of easy view-able and share-able blogs

Dashboard- it's like your Facebook newsfeed, to compare it to something relevant. It's basically the posts and reblogs of all of those you follow. It's the whole point of Tumblr c:
Posting is easy, just go to your home/dashboard and the options should be right there for you. (I explain more down below)
If you want followers, it all depends on your blog- what type of stuff do you post, how recent or much do you update and reblog, what fandoms you're in, etc. The weird thing about tumblr is, to me, it's not about how many you get, it's about how many you follow. It's a more fun and hilarious site when you got tons of friends, or you make completely new ones, to share the hilarity or whatnot on your dash. Methods of being more "popular" I guess could be things like holding giveaways and contests, die-hard fandom devotion, good gif-making, the whole shebang.

Best bet to start getting into the fandoms is by following those who also enjoy the same fandoms as you. Big ones like Sherlock and Supernatural shouldn't be hard to find, my dashboard is always filled with glorious photos and gifs from those shows, aha! There are sometimes blogs dedicated to those shows. For example: http://bbcssherlock.tumblr.com/ . Huzzah, commence the beautiful scrolling gifs!
Main point though is simple enough- start searching your fandoms (watch out though, you may want to get a handle on the usage of tags if you don't feel like stumbling on some porn *cringe*), and if there is a person's blog that posts a lot of that said show/series/etc, follow them! It's not weird or awkward, and it provides new friendships. Or you can take the safe side: grab all your friends blog names and follow them until you feel comfortable to start following other random people.

Gifs are everywhere, dearest! Just search away on tumblr if you want! Example, I typed cats and BOOM: a cat gif appeared! https://24.media.tumblr.com/0f7a36d8e48f...o1_250.gif

As for every other basic function, it's straightforward- Text is for text, photo's can have photos (but it doesn't limit you, you can still add text and the like in there; even text isn't limited), and honestly no one uses link or quote, and audio and video speak for themselves. As for reblogging- hearts means you like it, so heart dem Sam and Dean posts, bwaha! Reblog is reblog.
Just like every other hashtag, tags help people find your posts and reblogs, help censor tags for others, and help you organize your blog better if you wanted a separate page that held that tag (for example, I'm an artist so I put "doodles" in my tags. On my blog, there's a button that says it has my art, you click it, and bam, it shows all my lame doodles I tagged previously).

Well that was a hella lot of explaining, haaa! I hope it didn't bore you too much, If too long; didn't read: Just mess with the site, it's as easy as Reddit, Hope I kind of answered everything you asked for though, have a good day, and fun blogging experience~!

-MamaRussia

[Liz]

Search for blogs specifically the fandoms and follow them. Their posts will come up on your dashboard. Reblog the posts to post them to your account.

To post, go to your blog. For example, click the photo icon to post a picture. Then choose the picture and browse your computer to find it. For a text post, you type what you want to post, etc. Add tags to the post. You might want to add the tag "#humor" or "#funny" if you have a humor blog so that people who search for those terms find your blog. You can find gifs on the internet as well as other pictures just do a google search. You can also make original gifs.

In order to get more followers:

promote your blog here http://www.tumblrfind.com/index.php?ref=lovelyydakota

follow me lovelyydakota.tumblr.com I'll follow back

- post original and post often
- like and reblog lots of posts
- follow lots of blogs so they'll follow back
- enter promo contest
- have a unique theme totallylayouts.com
- be patient

good luck