Tumblr tutorial and tips for student journalists at Marquette University.

1. Unwrapping Tumblr
with the National Association of
Black Journalists at Marquette U.
#NABJUT
Mykl Novak • Marquette University
postmarq.tumblr.com • @myklnovak

2. MU Class of ’92
Marquette Journal staff photo • Source: ’92 Hilltop

3. Overview
I. What is Tumblr?
II. Posting on Tumblr
III. Engaging on Tumblr
IV. Lessons learned
V. 10 tips for journos

4. $1,000 Jeopardy! clue (aired 12/16/11)

5. I: What is Tumblr?
• “The easiest way to blog.”
• Tumblr makes it effortless to share
anything you find or create.
• Post text, photos, quotes, links,
dialogues, audio, video, slideshows.
tumblr.com/why-tumblr

6. So what’s Tumblr really?
• “...a digital incubator for all things visually stunning.”
(Christine Erickson, mashable.com)
• “...the Lost and Found Department of the entire
Internet.” (Salon.com)
• “...the most interesting party you’ve ever been at.”
(Mark Coatney)
• “...the end of your social life.”
(urbandictionary.com)

7. Blogging hybrid
longer posts
scheduling
multimedia
pages
followers
tags
timeline
retweets
replies
favorites

8. Undercover Tumblr

9. Tumblelog public view
nwkarchivist.tumblr.com

10. Dashboard view

11. Who’s on Tumblr?
ohnewsroom.tumblr.com

12. Who’s on Tumblr?
partylikeajournalist.com

13. Who’s on Tumblr?
futurejournalismproject.org

14. Who’s on Tumblr?
markcoatney.com

15. Who’s on Tumblr?

16. Who’s on Tumblr?

17. Who’s on Tumblr?

18. Who’s on Tumblr?

19. newsmediatumblrs.com

20. Your favorite Tumblrs?

21. Demographics
• Top 25 websites in U.S. ranked 21st by
• 56% female, 44% male
• Especially attracts ages 18 to 24
• College educated audience
Source: quantcast.com

22. Tumblr vs. others
Source: comScore (Feb. 2012)

23. 18,852,719,075
total posts
47,301,908
total blogs (tumblelogs)
www.tumblr.com/about/

24. Why Tumblr for Journos
• Post your own stories
• Not limited to 140-character tweets
• Group blogs allow multiple authors
• Get visual: photos and videos
• Promote your clips and other’s stories

25. Why Tumblr for Journos
• Mine Tumblr for story ideas
• Engage your readers (Tumblr followers)
• Connect with other journalists on Tumblr
• Selectively send posts to Facebook/Twitter
• Link Instagram photos to Tumblr

26. Tumblr for journalism?

27. Reveal news gathering
cjchivers.com

28. Curate/report news
hashtagvictorjacobo.tumblr.com

29. Collect news quotes
officialssay.tumblr.com

30. Be a columnist
“The Freshman”
wearemarquette.tumblr.com
(discontinued in August 2011)

31. Post photo essays
aaronjayledesma.tumblr.com and
romeoandjournal-it.tumblr.com

32. Go free-form/creative
wow. how college. [reblogged]
669 notes
curryfries.tumblr.com

33. Accept submissions
wearejournalists.tumblr.com

34. Cover a beat
marquetteu.tumblr.com

35. Remember when
livelymorgue.tumblr.com

36. Other ideas?

37. II: Posting to Tumblr

38. Quick account sign-up
1. 2. 3. 4.

39. The
Dash
• Read posts
• Post stuff
• Interact

40. 7 types of posts

41. Photo driven
42% of original posts
are photos
Source: mashable.com, 11/14/11

42. Posting a photo
Click Photo

43. Upload a photo
1. Select photo
2. Add caption (optional, but do it)
3. Tag it (optional, but do it)
4. Post

44. Dashboard result

45. Tumblelog result

46. Photoset

47. Text post
• You can easily add images to text posts
• Use “read more” break for longer posts

48. Quote post
“Be ignited, or
be gone.”
(Mary Oliver)

49. Link post

50. Chat post
Overheard at Brew Cudahy Cafe:
Barista #1: I’m really tired.
Barista #2: You work in a coffee shop.
Do something about it.

51. Audio post
• One audio upload per day
• MP3s only with 10MB limit
• Toll-free number to record

52. Video post
• Embed YouTube or Vimeo by URL
• Upload 5 minutes of video per day
• 100MB max per video file upload

53. Publish options
• Publish now — I mean, right now
• Add to queue — stagger your posts
• Publish on... — schedule your posts
• Save as draft — stockpile your posts
• Private — only for you

54. Theme garden
www.tumblr.com/themes/

55. III: Engaging on Tumblr
Notes
• Reblog
• Like
• Reply
• Answer

56. Reblog
• Similar to Twitter’s retweet
• Quickly shares what you love on Tumblr
• Creates a copy to your tumblelog
• Allows you to add your own comments
• Attributes to the original author
• Adds to notes on the original post
• Notifies author on dashboard (if set)

57. Reblog a post

58. Like
• Marks what you like from Tumblr
• Similar to Twitter favorites
• Does NOT create a post on your tumblelog
• Adds to Notes on the original post
• Likes may appear in a sidebar or link (if set)
• Notifies author on dashboard (if set)

59. Reply
• Replies are off by default
• Can allow replies from people you follow
• Can allow replies from those following you
for more than two weeks
• Click Reply link on dashboard posts
• For comments, use DISQUS add-on

60. Answer a question
• End a text post or a caption with “?”
• Creates a question post with answer box

61. Submit stuff to others

62. dearmarquette.tumblr.com
Bowl of Real Chili in 1980: $1.40; Today: $5.74

63. Ask others a question
• Click “ask” link or go to /ask
• 500-character limit
• Only 10 asks per hour
• No web or email addresses

64. Send Fan Mail

65. Following
• Click follow button in the upper right
• Try Spotlight: http://tumblr.com/spotlight/
• Try http://tumblr.com/spotlight/news/
• Try Explore: http://tumblr.com/explore/

66. Check archive, likes

67. The Tag Advantage
• Only 10% of Tumblr users tag
• Surfaces content for others
• When posting, tags on right
• No hash/pound sign needed
• Comma or return after each; no hyphens in tags
• Search tags from dashboard

68. news tag (curated)

69. Highlighted posts

70. IV: Lessons learned
Tumblr loves bacon!

71. Tumblr sweet spot
• Visuals/multimedia
• Niche topics

72. What interests students?

74. Creation vs. Curation
• Strike a balance between...
• Creating your original posts
• Curating other’s posts (reblogs)
• Remix or curate...
• Be careful with copyright
• Attribute the source Coach
Buzz
Lightyear

75. Follow judiciously
• Follow accounts that fit your interests
• Initially, I followed all who followed me
• Sometimes led to “dashboard noise”
• Gradually, I unfollowed some accounts

76. Track topics with tags

77. Seedy side of Tumblr
• Spam likes or reblogs (block as spam)
• Beware of phishing for Tumblr logins
• F-bombs, even on official Tumblr stuff
• F***yeah blogs

78. Tumblr downtime
42.1 hours
downtime
in 2011 for
Tumblr
Source: pingdom.com

79. V: 10 Tips for Journos

80. 1. Identify yourself

81. 2. Stick with a blog name

82. 3.Visual, visual, visual

83. 4. Add captions
• Choose keywords in
the first 50 characters
• Use photo post for
photos; text posts may
offer you a headline
but yield a 125-pixel
photo in dash
• Identifies which
photo was reblogged
A Marquette student approaches the St. Joan or liked on dashboard
of Arc Chapel. notifications

84. 5. Consider length
tl;dr

85. 6. Post often but stagger

86. 7. Post in the p.m.

87. 8. Link your related posts
1. McCormick Hall
2. Mashuda Hall
3. Cobeen Hall
4. Abbottsford Hall
5. O’Donnell Hall
6. Carpenter Tower

88. 9. Get Google Analytics
Learn how at bit.ly/gatumblr

89. 10. Find a niche, a voice

90. Questions?

91. Thanks!
postmarq.tumblr.com
@myklnovak