Julie's First

Learner Lecture 

As I show you, notice the minimalistic, user-friendly, intuitive design of Tumblr. And the tone they use with instructions. 

Creating Your Own Tumblr Blog

• Public

• Private

• Shared

Primary

vs

Secondary

(CAN password, group

CAN'T ask, submit, like, follow)

The Dashboard (dash)

• Follow/Unfollow
• Reblog
• Like
• Share

+ Your own content

Culture: Intro 

• Unlike YouTube, Facebook or Twitter where your account is very much linked to your identity (you connect with your friends), much more anonymous

• So you can search for a list of content-specific Tumblr blogs, but not Tumblr personalities

• From my personal experience, and how I've used Tumblr will be primary. Follow my blog!

• I'm not a "popular blogger" - but mainly because I don't try to promote it. I'm proud of the blog itself.

Searching for Blogs to Follow or Specific Content

• ​Find Blogs (right below liked posts)

• Simply google search! (i.e. orange is the new black tumblr)

• Use Notes!

Types of Content I Like (and think constitutes a lot of what Tumblr users in our demographic look for/have)

As I scroll down my dashboard, notice...

• Beauty/Style/Nature/Cats (Aesthetic Images)
• Fandom GIFs
• Ethical/Political (even if personal blogs)
• Comical
• And they merge!

I'll show you a few examples. And you'll kind of "know" Tumblr culture the way I know it from these.

And they're not too biased - even though they're things bloggers I follow reblogged, they are all posts with MANY notes; which means popular throughout Tumblr in general.

Culture: You'll Know 

You would think, Tumblr is about image over text, and you're right, there are a lot of images.

Any funny/important posts in other social media? You bet they're on Tumblr.

Culture: You'll Know cont'

Sometimes it's more than original content. It's about the fact that you interact with each other when reblogging that makes Tumblr valuable.

Example of something where the comment is probably what got the many notes:

Interpretation

If you say something wrong/ignorant/insensitive, you bet somebody's going to call you out on it. Look at the notes on that thing!

I bet you're noticing that there's a lot to do with sexism/feminism, healthy body image or self-image, self-respect, etc... very vocal, while they vary.

Quickly think about the demographics!

Most popular among young adults: 13% of 18- to-29-year-olds said they used the service. Gender ratio is about the same. (Pew Research Center, 2013)

Remember what I said about IMG > Text?

I was actually going to argue that texts are just as important in Tumblr. Images are indeed important. But let this one on the left be our last one...

Tumblr Text Culture

• How do you make a short text funny and/or opinionated? (kind of like Twitter in this way, but you are not you. What you say isn't linked to your real-life identity. You can be much more honest.) 

• What would people empathize with and therefore find funny? 
• There is an interesting coexistent culture of self-deprecation AND self-promotion on Tumblr. You'll see. 
• Honesty, not being afraid to talk about your inadequacies or sexual frustration, etc = KEY

Examples

Examples, cont'

Sometimes they are just funny, sometimes they are more than that, and sometimes it's a little bit of both. It's cultural to our age/era.

It's an inside-text.

With this example being the last on culture you can now probably write in the tone that fits Tumblr and know what kinds of posts would get a lot of notes, I'll move on to my final point.

Ever since Yahoo acquired Tumblr, ads, ads, ads on the dash!

I think this Facebook post I wrote just a few days ago really represents my feelings (and probably many's) about it well. It just doesn't go. It doesn't go with the minimalistic design & youth culture of Tumblr. I'm just waiting for a popular text about Tumblr ads.

Tumblr Famous!

You can make profit if you have a certain number of followers. Let's look at one of my favorite: internetcallgirl

She asks her followers if they would click on the ad. There are ways to verify it, and she'd check out/promote your blog (people even look for "tumblr gf to make famous). Once you're close to your followers, you develop a certain personality. 

YouTube stars make Facebook/Tumblr accounts. Hayley went from Tumblr famous to YouTube famous; her followers watch her videos. 

Hope this gave you some ideas on what Tumblr's about.

I encourage you to make an account - and, of course, follow me:

havefaithindreams.tumblr.com 

Thank you!