Guide to using tumblr
What is Tumblr?
Tumblr is something of a hybrid: a mix of a blog, an image- or video-sharing site, and a venue for following others. Some people create Tumblr accounts solely to follow Tumblr sites that they like, which appear on your home screen as a Facebook-style feed. Others use it to highlight their art, share thoughts, or provide previews of content that exists elsewhere. While you should include some text with your Tumblr image posts, you should never include very much. Most sites only write four sentences or less per post. It’s most important to briefly describe the photo. You can also use relevant hashtags to help people find your content. If you need more room to fully explain it, link to more information on the research.
Use Tumblr if you are looking to invest between 10 to 30 minutes per day and want to share striking images (your own or others’), brief comments/captions, and links to more information.
Other considerations for using Tumblr
While many Tumblr users check in several times a day, information tends to flow at a slower pace than on other social media platforms.
If you want to react to events more immediately, consider Twitter or Instagram. On the other hand, if you want a platform that allows for longer content where information flows a little slower, try Facebook.
- Follow others. Like Twitter and Facebook, you’ll gain more followers, and see more interesting posts, if you follow many people and institutions whose work you like.
- Make a schedule. Decide how many times you want to post during a week—either your own material or re-blogging others’ posts—and set aside a few minutes of time each day to accomplish this.
- Use hashtags. They are a way to follow people, conversations, or topics. People often search for topics by a relevant hashtag, for example, #AGU18 for the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting. Use common hashtags and your posts are more likely to be widely seen.
- Make it a conversation. Re-blog others’ posts, “like” or comment on their posts, and get involved in hashtag conversations. Others will be more likely to connect with and follow you.
- Allow submissions. Encouraging others to submit material to your site can be a great way of generating fresh content without having to create it all yourself. Allowing submissions is not automatic, however; you’ll need to choose it in your settings.
