Blogging is dominating social
networks around the world! According to one online article, "There are
about 450 million 'active' English language blogs right now" ("So How
Many Blogs Are There, Anyway?").
The question, therefore, must be asked: Do YOU have
a blog? If not, you are slowly becoming the minority. Interestingly, we
all have a broad-spectrum definition--a general definition--as to what
a blog is; however, a more specific definition of a blog is in order:
BLOG--noun--a
public
online
journal
where peoples of the world can gather to post
personal entries about nearly everything.
In the social network,
MySpace
and
Facebook
have always been the champions of cyberspace, and then
Twitter (a
140-characters-or-less blogging platform) became a contender.
Tumblr, however, is
relatively fresh on the scene. In order to move from one era into the
twenty-first century, as
explained by John Moses, technical communication must change with the
media
and social
networks (e.g., with blogs such as
Tumblr); therefore,
technical communication--or communication in general--is not limited to
what is written
in an instruction manual or in audiovisual tutorials (Moses).
Tumblr sales itself on simplicity: "The
easiest way to blog" ("The Easiest Way to Blog"). Not only does
Tumblr
allow you to choose a theme void of ads, banners and logos, but it also
allows you to create a theme from scratch. In the
twenty-first century, everyday activities must fit in the
palm of your hand, correct? Do you know of that infamous
Apple trademark, "There's
an app for that"? Well, there is!
Tumblr has created an
extensive
platform, similar to their website, for members to enjoy on their
iPhones. The app allows you to do pretty much anything you
could to on the website--"like" or "reblog", create a post or delete
one.
In Alexandra Levit's
To Blog or Not to Blog,
she writes about the advantages of blogging as part of building a
successful career: "The advantages of using a blog to jump-start your
career, says Mr. Brogan [the president of New Marketing Labs], are
many.
'Blogging is flexible and gives you the freedom to set your own agenda
and publishing schedule,' he says. 'It's also the Trojan horse into
many large companies, because executive-level readers see my posts and
get an immediate taste of the value I can bring to their businesses'"
(Levit). Interestingly, the professional and technical workplace is not
as difficult to get into if you have the expertise within a given
field; blogging, therefore, becomes a sort of portfolio for a potential
employer. For example, he or she is able to see your work, judge the
scope of your knowledge (or expertise), and decide whether to hire you
based on what you know.
Kelly
Oxford, a noteworthy
Tumblr
member, has recently signed a deal with HarperCollins to write a
memoir, and she also a sitcom in development with CBS with Jessica
Alba attached as co-executive producer (Lederman). Yes, this is the
power of blogging! In the same
article, Levit expounds on the
exploration of the
Blogosphere; in other words, you are
expected to familiarize yourself with a community of bloggers and
with their expertise within a particular subject (culinary, religious,
political, etc.). By learning these processes, you are more able to
find your own niche in which to become a successful blogger.
In addition to choosing your own unique theme or the user-friendly
iPhone
application,
Tumblr allows you to post ANYTHING--from
old-fashioned text, photos (which must be high-resolution because
Tumblr
has standards), quotes, all the way to links, dialogues, audio and
video. In
addition, all of these features--with the exception of video--can be
accessed on the app.
Interestingly,
Tumblr allows you to post directly from your
email, and it senses what you're trying to share (a photo, a song, a
video, etc.) and posts accordingly. If that is not enough, you can
literally call in your posts! Seriously. According to their website,
you can call them at 1-866-584-6757 and record your thoughts into the
telephone, and an audio post is created and applied to your blog.
IMPORTANT: Some blogs are
sneaky when it comes to ownership of
your work, but
Tumblr
is honest before
you even create an account: "Tumblr's creator-friendly
Terms of
Service
means
YOU keep your copyright. Dozens of
Tumblr blogs
have even received book deals!" ("The Easiest Way to Blog"). Honestly,
can your blog
really compete with
Tumblr? No, I thought not.
Okay, let us not say goodbye to these
social networks (with the exception of
Formspring and
Myspace);
let
us
look at them through a different window--
Tumblr's window
of sheer awesomeness. You can keep your readers up-to-date; for
example, publications to
Facebook and tweets from
Twitter
can be incorporated into your blog as feeds that run along the side(s)
of
your blog. And yes, it does NOT crowd your blog (Here's looking at you
Myspace!).
Since
many
people have never heard of
Formspring, a definition
is in order.
Formspring is a question-and-answer based social
network. But, who needs
Formspring when you have
Tumblr?
With
every
new account,
Tumblr
has a built in question-and-answer feature, and you can choose whether
to turn this feature on or off; you can also decide whether questions
can asked anonymously or whether questions must be asked by a
Tumblr
member.
¹French for Goodbye
With today's constant changes in
technology,
Tumblr can only
increase in popularity as it already offers the most desired features
in
a blog--both on the Internet and at your fingertips. What more could
you ask
for? Go ahead, mosey on over to
tumblr.com
to create your blog
paradise, for
WordPress and
Blogger
are ancient contenders in our technology-driven world. There is no
learning curve; therefore, it is not
difficult to post your entries.
Tumblr
also respects your First Amendment rights, allowing you to express what
is on
your mind without fear of deletion or censorship. Political,
professional, technical, culinary...it matters not what you blog,
as long as you blog!
Works
Cited
"The Easiest Way to Blog."
Tumblr.
Web.
15
April 2011. <
http://www.tumblr.com/>.
Lederman, Marsha. "Blogger Kelly Oxford Will be a TV Character--Thanks
to Jessica Alba."
The Globe and Mail. Web. 15 April 2011. <
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/blogger-kelly-oxford-will-be-a-tv-character-thanks-to-jessica-alba/article1941613/>.
