Tumblr
While it did take some time to get used to, I really have grown a lot more comfortable with Tumblr through the course of completing this project. The first few hours or posts are difficult when it comes to figuring out what all you can do, but I like it enough to where I will at least probably use it again if the occasion arises.
As most of you know, Tumblr is a social media site based around the concept of “blogging”. It similar to Facebook, and even more similar to Myspace, but with blogging sites you have a lot more freedom when it comes to content and how your page is laid out.
Like most other social media sites, Tumblr also allows you to follow other people’s blogs that you find interesting. One significant difference that I noticed between a “blog” and maybe someone’s Facebook profile is the level of anonymity. Whereas in Facebook it is almost the unspoken goal to have none, a blogging site such as Tumblr leaves room for this now unheard concept. While users still have the option to link up their sites, it is not a requirement, and I feel that there are many users out there who prefer their “real friends” to possibly not even know that that do even blog. I personally feel that, for some people based on the blogs that I’ve seen, there is almost something more personal about it.
Another difference that I picked up on is that blogs tend to focus pretty strongly around central topics. They are not typically a “spill all” for those people that run them; instead I noticed ones centered around photography, or cooking, or travel, or fashion, etc.
As far as physical features of the site, I liked how it at least guided you somewhat when it came to medium of the material that you wanted to post. The tool bar located at the top of your dashboard page features the options of text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio, and video. Besides making their site more user-friendly, I believe this also inspires the bloggers as to the type of content that they can actually post. I also liked how you also had the option to imbed other mediums of content within the main one that you are working in (which is how I incorporated the screenshots into the text).
I found the two tutorials below to be pretty helpful. The first focuses more on how to get started, and the second focuses specifically on the importance of an effective theme.
