what's the point of creating a tumblr?

[jazi]

my friend told me about her tumblr, so i looked her's up and it looks really interesting. i really want to make one, but i don't really know what exactly what its for. is it where you just blog random things you find interesting?

[Colin Garrard]

I cannot see the sense it it, but I am growed up.

[nick-o-lass P]

it's a place where plagiaristic wankers use other people's photos, share them around and get followers in the process. There's hardly any original content and it's a place where frustrated teenagers moan about their lives, expecting you to care.

don't do it unless you're putting something into it, instead of recycling the flow of s*** that already runs through that cess-pit.

[Albanian]

Today we take a look at Tumblr. Tumblr is a blogging tool that similar to Posterous and fits somewhere in between Twitter and a full blown Word Press blog. I must admit I am a bit conflicted about the usefulness of both Posterous and Tumblr because they are so close to full featured blog yet lack the tools to monetize the blog therefore leaving you stuck somewhere in the middle. If you are not going to monetize your blog why not just use Twitter where you will have the advantage of the massive membership? Even still, tumblr is a really cool tool! Tumblr has much more robust tools than does Twitter therefore if Twitters leaves you wanting… Tumblr is for you!

Tumblr is free and creating an account is beyond simple. With Tumblr you can post text, photos, links, music, and videos from your browser. You can also make blog posts easily from your phone and there is also a great iPhone app for Tumblr. One feature I found interesting is the ability to make a “call in” post from your cell phone. I was expecting that the call in feature would turn your voice message into a text message and then post that text on your blog. Instead, the call in feature merely posts an audio recording of your call on your blog which is cool but not that useful, especially for SEO purposes.

Tumblr lacks a cool widget to place back on your Word Press blog (or other website) and therefore falls short of Zannel in that regard. Companies such as Tumblr and Posterous need to keep in mind that publishers need to be able to use every tool in a way that benefits us in some way, we need to be able to monetize the tool or use the tool to enhance our existing projects in some way shape or form.

So who might use Tumblr? The best use for Tumblr would be for creative folks who want to catalog ideas, images, videos, and create a sort of online portfolio of stuff from the net or Twitter marketers who need a “home”, i.e., a place for their users to be directed to that contains more detailed information. If you plan to create a blog that will feature Adsense or other affiliate banners for revenue generating purposes Tumblr doesn’t seem to be the solution unless I am missing how that might be accomplished.



Tumblr easily connects with Twitter for cross posting, i.e., you can auto post to Twitter from your Tumblr entries or post your Twitter entries to your Tumblr blog. Tumblr also supports Facebook posting as well as a variety of other tools via RSS feed posting which is really cool.

Customizing your Tumblr blog is easy and there are some great themes to choose from, you can further customize your theme if you like digging into the html code. Tumblr’s web 2.0 look and feel is very well done and the dashboard is simple enough to find your way around with little trouble.

You can check out the Tumblr account I whipped up in just a few seconds. InternetPoop on Tumblr.

In summary, I really love Tumblr but I’m not sure how I will use it in the future. I can’t put a ton of effort into something that’s difficult to monetize. However, I do believe there is a need for tools such as Tumblr and if Tumblr (or Posterous for that matter) ever decide to include a customizable side bar for Adsense ads or other custom affiliate code these tools might just give Word Press a real run for it’s money.