Social Networking with Tumblr

There are continually new social networks being developed.  One of the latest is tumblr.  It is a blogging platform that is favored by individuals who are trying to foster an artistic identity.  Tumblr allows individuals to share photographs, paintings, and other forms of artwork.  As a result, tumblr is much more visually appealing then other social networks.  Text is not as important when tumbling.  Text is used as a backstory that supports the art.  “Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything.  Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and video, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be.”  (Tumblr, 2012)

Davide Karp, the founder of Tumblr.com, stated that, “tumblr is growing by a quarter billions impressions every week.”  (TCTV, 2012)  A larger percentage of this growth has come from college students.  Tumblr currently has 16.5 million users.  There have been 4.5 million posts made.  This equals out to about 26 million new posts a day.  (Mae, 2012)  Tumblr has become known as the easy way to blog.  It was designed for individuals who want to get their thoughts out there. 

Tumblr is easy to set up.  All the user needs is an email address, password, and blog name.  The user can choose to provide a photograph for their account.  They are also encouraged to provide a title for their blog.  The Themes and Appearances tabs allow the user to choose the themes for their blog.

It appeals to the less experienced bloggers.  Wordpress.com and Blogger are often used by more experienced bloggers.  Some of these bloggers choose to use tumblr as their secondary account.  When using tumblr the viewer does not have to wait for the page to load.  They can also quickly skim through the text.  The primary blog is likely to be much denser. 

Tumblr allows the user to follow other users who share the same interest they do.   Tumblr makes it very easy to reblog information.  This action allows for followers of a blog to receive these relative news clips too. 

Tumblr lets the user decide whether to publish their post immediately, or chose to have them published at a later date.  The tool that allows the user to publish post at a later date and time is particularly useful for a business professional that would like to remind client of upcoming client appreciation events, or important deadlines that are approaching.   Whereas, a writer might use it to announce an upcoming public appearance to their followers.   

Tumblr allows for post to be supported by six different forms.  They are text, quote, link, chat, and video.  Tumblr does not have some of the editing tools that some of the other blogging formats do.  Tumblr does not limit the number of words that you can use. 

Tumblr has a mobile application.  There is an application that works on the iPhone and also the Blackberry.  The lets the account holder to access and update their account around the clock. 

WordPress does a better job then tumblr does when it come to supporting big business.  WordPress is much more flexible with its designs.  It supports ecommerce, forms, listings, heavy content, and advertising.  Tumblr is not designed to support such formats. 

An individual can set up their tumblr to post to twitter as links automatically.  This is suppose to drive traffic to their site.  Facebook also allows users to set it up so their tumblr post appear on their facebook.  This differs from the way twitter supports tumblr, because the twitter uses actually go to the site.  Tumblr allows you to create these links more easily than many other blogging sites. 

There is not just one social network that works for all people.  An individual’s choice should be made based on who their target audience is, what their technical abilities are, and who will be writing the text for the site.  Some people use one social networking site, while others use multiple social media sites. 

Online Identity Relationship Building

Online identities are important to individuals in all different professions.  They are important to individuals who are freelance writers, because have an extra responsibility to reach out to the public and attract individuals and companies that are in need of their services.   It also allows freelance writers to continually update their followers with the latest news.  This is very important, because competition in this field is great.  Some news channels dedicate all or their efforts to keeping the public up to date with the latest news 24/7.  Yet online identities are also important to business professionals who are often paid on commissions or with bonus incentives, and as a result are always trying to increase their customer base. 

 In many cases the networks that these individuals use are different, because they are reaching out to a different target audience.  Business professionals, financial advisors for example, are more likely trying to attract older clients who are a year or two years away from retirement.  They will likely have better success connecting with this type of client on networks that have been around longer.  While a freelance writer is expected to be more experienced with new technology, and someone searching for their services might be more likely to use a newer network in order to find a freelance writer who has demonstrated that they are on top of new technology.  Freelance writers are also likely to favor media sites that have a mobile application, because they are becoming increasing popular with the public.  

In today’s fast past society the consumer wants what they want when they want it.  They do not like waiting for information, and in many cases if they are likely to select a provider from the top ten of the search result simply based on convenience.  This is one big reason that individuals dip into more than one network.  Having your online identity reinforced in different networks increases the chance that the provider’s name will appear in one of these searches. 

Facebook is a great network for providing contact information.  Twitter is a great tool for providing the consumer with information.  By providing a link to the consumer the provider is asking the consumer to become engaged.  In many cases the more engaged the consumer is the more successful the business relationship will be. 

Individuals in today’s society are changing the way in which they prefer to communicate.  While the older generations are still likely to pick up a phone; younger generations are choosing to communicate through online media sites such as facebook, twitter.  It important to know what your customer’s preferred method of communication is, because using that form of communication will increase the frequency of your communication and also their level of satisfaction with your communication. 

 A freelance writer’s relationship with their followers can also be strengthened through the use of online identities.  The reader can develop a deeper connection with the writer if they fill out an online profile.  They might find that they share an interest or admire a specific accomplishment.  This helps develop a sense of trust between the reader and the writer.  This is very important; because a reader will not waste their time reading something that they do not believe comes from a trustworthy source.  Another way that this relationship can be strengthened is by allowing the reader to comment on the writer’s work.  Reader’s want to feel that their opinion is valued and the freelancer can assure this be taking a moment to respond to the reader or also be addressing all readers as a group every so often.