Tumblr can be a weird and scary space for new users, but with time, patience, and a bookmark for UrbanDictionary.com, you too can become one with the Tumblr community.
Tumblr sets itself apart by making social interaction the primary focus. Unlike other blogging sites, Tumblr focuses less on the visitation of individual blogs and focuses more on the user dashboard.
Instead of simply commenting on a blog post and letting it sit in the same spot, Tumblr users are avid rebloggers. By allowing users to share individual posts with ease, Tumblr capitalizes on long visitation times and heavy user interaction. By hiding information like a user’s follower or following counts, the site is able to maintain a large, connected community. Still, it’s easy to tell if one of your favorite bloggers is popular based on the amount of notes they get on text and picture posts and if they ever answer the myriad questions in their ask box publicly.
I spoke with two of my favorite Tumbloggers heartbreakes and unexceptional about having and maintaining a popular blog.
Meet the bloggers
Blog name: Heartbreakes
First name: Sarah
Age: 20
Location: New York, New York
Blog since: About 2011
Blog type: Mixed. Includes food, tattoos, cigarettes, fashion, and comedy.
Follower count: 26,000+
Blog name: unexceptional
First name: Melina
Age: 21
Location: California
Blog since: 2011
Blog type: Mixed. Includes food, fashion, nature, animals, and money.
Follower count: 17,000+
The social media how
When and why did you start using social media?
Sarah: “I started using social media when I was 12 or 13. My friends told me about Myspace and helped me sign up and make a profile.”
Melina: “I started using social media first when I was about 14. I began with MySpace because it was the most popular thing at the time, and my friend persuaded me to get into it. “
In the early 2000s, everyone from pre-teens to adults were enamored with MySpace, a social-media website that allowed to users to make profiles and in participate in a wide range of social activities including comments, messages, bulletins, blog posts, picture comments and discussion boards.
How did you gain popularity on the internet?
Sarah: “I’m not sure how I gained popularity. I stay pretty active on the Internet, so that’s probably why.”
Melina: “It took a while before my follower count started rising, but when it did, it was because I had a certain blog style that was popular, and I made friends with bloggers who also had a lot of followers. I started to make videos of myself singing which circulated, and eventually I was unfortunately involved in drama which garnered a lot of attention and followers as well. “
Is it hard to keep up your Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, etc?
Sarah: “I’m addicted to the Internet, so I don’t find it hard to keep up. I usually multitask with the Internet and whatever I’m doing.”
Melina: “It’s hard to keep up with my Tumblr because I enjoy changing themes and music and visiting other blogs which I cannot do from a mobile device, but accounts such as Twitter and Instagram aren’t as hard to update.”
What the kids are into
Buzzfeed recently published an article with 31 things teens think are cool. What do Sarah and Melina think about these?
Having a strong eyebrow game
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Cool. “Hilariously enough, I do think ‘strong eyebrow game’ is cool. I think eyebrows are important, and I enjoy topics involving them.”
Huf socks
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Indifferent
Kik
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Cool. “I use kik more than I text because I have friends who live in different countries and it makes it easier to talk. Kik is super cool.”
Snapchat
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Not cool. “…I find it pointless.”
Macklemore
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Indifferent.
Pokemon
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Indifferent.
Not being on Facebook
Sarah: Not cool.
Melina: Cool. “Facebook is boring and awful, there is limited opportunity for individuality and customization to your wall — characteristics that made MySpace and Tumblr popular. Of course, I think not being on it is cool. It’s all about Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram for me.”
“I don’t think any of those things are cool. I think most trends on the Internet are stupid.” —Sarah
One last thing before you go
Another thing on the list is selfies. You often get a lot of Tumblr notes on your selfies, how do you keep your selfie game so strong?
Sarah: “My selfies get an average amount of notes. I take a selfie almost every day so eventually a few of them will get notes.”
If average means hundreds of notes, she’s right on the mark. Sarah’s most popular selfies have more than 400 notes.
Melina: “Over the years I analyzed what made photographs ‘likable,’ and I perfected my angles and used appropriate apps without overdoing it. I guess it’s silly, but it’s also important to maintain a certain look, such as having a nice top on rather than taking a pic in pajamas and make sure your ‘eyebrow game is strong.’ I’ve tried to add flair to my pictures either with a flash of my dimple, a nice expression or a cool accessory. Selfies should stand out. It’s essentially a self portrait and you wanna capture the best of you so other people will see it!”
