Tumblr: a blog for all seasons
Well hello there… I’m back from honeymoon (thank you very much for all the kind messages) and so consequenty am trying to get back to grips with… well, everything.
But whilst I left the digital realms by and large untouched for two weeks (no twitter, no facebook, no google reader, no email…), there was one thing that both my wife and I used whilst we were away.
(I like typing the word ‘wife’, it’s all new and exciting)
We decided that it’d be nice to capture some of the things we did as a family as we went along… we wanted to share our experiences with our family & close friends.
So we set up a simple Tumblr site, and downloaded the Tumblr App to my iPhone… so we could just quickly capture a quick photo and a bit of text to a central site.
(I’ve not linked through to it, there’s only so many pictures of Cornwall you’d want to see…)
Rather than the more traditional form of ‘blog’, Tumblr is an example of a tumblelog which Wikipedia describes as “a variation of a blog that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging”.
Even though I’d been aware of Tumblr and it’s ilk before (Mark & Ed at PHD NYC were singing it’s praises before I left too), I’d never thought of starting one at all… possibly because I’m more used to long-form blogging like this.
Having used it for two weeks, I think it’s absolutely perfect for several things:
i) Informality – If you’re intimidated by ‘BLOGGING’, but just want somewhere to capture your idlings through photos, text, short video, links etc
ii) Mobility – I was never much of a diary keeper, mainly because whenever I started one I kept it at home and forgot to update it. But using the Tumblr/iPhone combination on the move means you can quickly capture things in the moment, post it, and forget about it.
iii) Simplicity – If you’re in any way ‘technologically hesitant’ and are put off the thought of blogging because it might be ‘a bit techy’, then something as simple as Tumblr is probable an ideal introduction.
As with all technology, of course, it’s only proved itself of use because there’s a clear objective at the end… we wanted to share our family experiences with the rest of our family. But I can see how it would also facilitate that need to share for project teams here at PHD, or introducing clients to blogging, or so on and so forth.
Have a play and see how easy it is to set one up here.
Anyway, there you go, a blog about a blog. How very meta…
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