Unwrapping Tumblr

Unwrapping Tumblr Mykl Novak ~ Marquette University

postmarq.tumblr.com@myklnovak

Overview

I. What is Tumblr?

II. Posting on Tumblr

III. Engaging on Tumblr

IV. Lessons learned

$1,000 Jeopardy! clue (aired 12/16/11)

I: What is Tumblr?

• “The easiest way to blog.”

• Tumblr makes it effortless to share anything you find or create.

• Post text, photos, quotes, links, dialogues, audio, video, slideshows.

tumblr.com/why-tumblr

So what’s Tumblr really?• “...the Lost and Found Department of the

entire Internet.” (Salon.com)

• “...the end of your social life.” (urbandictionary.com)

• “...the most interesting party you’ve ever been at. That party could have a political discussion in the kitchen or people doing keg stands in the living room, but it’s all about that whole range of human expression.” (Mark Coatney)

Blogging hybrid

followers

timeline

retweets

favorites

longer posts

pages

scheduling

multimedia

tags

replies

Undercover Tumblr

“Tumblr has a chameleon quality, since non-Tumblr users who visit a tumblr blog see it as a more or less plain-vanilla blog: they don’t see the social network behind the scenes... [To] really experience Tumblr, you have to create an account and start following people.” (Stowe Boyd)

Tumblelog view

nwkarchivist.tumblr.com

Dashboard view

What is Tumblr?

tum·blr [tuhm-bler] noun: Fast, free, easy blogging of rich media within a hypervisual, hyperactive social network.

Who’s on Tumblr?

The Comic Sans Project

comicsansproject.tumblr.com

Who’s on Tumblr?

clientsfromhell.net

Who’s on Tumblr?Garfield Minus Garfield

garfieldminusgarfield.net

Who’s on Tumblr?

Demographics

• Top 25 websites in U.S.

• 55% female, 45% male

• Attracts ages 18 to 34

• College educated audience

Source: quantcast.com

ranked 23rd by

Tumblr vs. others

Source: comScore

15,346,507,389total posts

39,704,179total blogs (tumblelogs)

www.tumblr.com/about/

II: Posting to Tumblr

Quick account sign-up

1. 2. 3. 4.

The Dash

• Read posts• Post stuff• Interact

7 types of posts

Photo driven

42% of original posts are photos

Source: mashable.com, 11/14/11

Posting a photo

Click Photo

Upload a photo

1. Select photo

2. Add caption (optional)

4. Post

3. Tag it (optional)

Dashboard result

Tumblelog result

Photoset

GPOY

GratituitousPicture OfYourself

(or any image that metaphorically describes you)

Reaction images

• Exclamation points of Tumblr

• Images or animationsat end of a post

• Express joy, shock,sadness, laughter, anger,disgust, excitement or pride

Text post

• You can easily add images to text posts

• Use “read more” break for longer posts

Quote post

“Be ignited, or be gone.”

(Mary Oliver)

Link post

Chat post

Overheard at Brew Cudahy Cafe:

Barista #1: I’m really tired.

Barista #2: You work in a coffee shop. Do something about it.

Audio post

• One audio upload per day

• MP3s only with 10MB limit

• Toll-free number to record

Video post

• Embed YouTube or Vimeo by URL

• Upload 5 minutes of video per day

• 100MB max per video file upload

Publish options

• Publish now — I mean, right now

• Add to queue — stagger your posts

• Publish on... — schedule your posts 

• Save as draft — stockpile your posts

• Private — only for you, when logged in

Theme garden

III: Engaging on Tumblr

• Reblog

• Like

• Reply

• Answer

Notes

Reblog• Similar to Twitter’s retweet

• Quickly shares what you love on Tumblr

• Creates a copy to your tumblelog

• Allows you to add your own comments

• Attributes to the original author

• Adds to notes on the original post

• Notifies author on dashboard (if set)

Reblog a post

Like

• Marks what you like from Tumblr

• Similar to Twitter favorites

• Does NOT create a post on your tumblelog

• Adds to Notes on the original post

• Likes may appear in a sidebar or link (if set)

• Notifies author on dashboard (if set)

Reply

• Replies are off by default

• Can allow replies from people you follow

• Can allow replies from those following you for more than two weeks

• Click Reply link on dashboard posts

• For comments, use DISQUS add-on

Answer a question

• End a text post or a caption with “?”

• Creates a question post with answer box

Submit stuff to others

Ask others a question

• Click “ask” link or go to /ask

• 500-character limit

• Only 10 asks per hour

• No web or email addresses

Following

• Click follow button in the upper right

• Try Spotlight: http://tumblr.com/spotlight/

• Try Explore: http://tumblr.com/explore/

Check archive, likes

marquetteu.tumblr.com

dearmarquette.tumblr.com

marquetteits.tumblr.com

postmarq.tumblr.com

Tags

• Great way to organize posts

• Surfaces content for others

• When posting, tags on right

• No hash/pound sign needed

• Comma or return after each

• Search tags from dashboard

Top 10 tags1. GIF (animated)

2. LOL

3. Fashion

4. Art

5. Vintage

6. Illustration

7. Landscape

8. Animals

9. Food

10. Film

Source: mashable.com, 11/14/11

IV: Lessons learned

Tumblr sweet spot

• Visuals/multimedia

• Niche topics

What interests students?

Creation vs. Curation• Strike a balance between...

• Creating your original posts

• Curating other’s posts (reblogs)

• Remix or curate...

• Be careful with copyright

• Attribute the source CoachBuzz

Lightyear

Follow judiciously

• Follow accounts that fit your interests

• Initially, I followed all who followed me

• Sometimes led to “dashboard noise”

• Gradually, I unfollowed some accounts

Track topics with tags

Seedy side of Tumblr• Spam likes or reblogs (block as spam)

• F-bombs, even on official Tumblr stuff

• F***yeah blogs

• Over the line: click unfollow

Tumblr downtime42.1 hoursdowntime in 2011 forTumblr

1.6 hoursdowntime in 2011 forwordpress.com

Source: pingdom.com

Think like a news editor

Think like a historian

MU in Cotton Bowl: Jan. 1, 1937 (MU Archives)

Think like Hallmark

Questions?

postmarq.tumblr.com@myklnovak