Watch Out Facebook and Twitter: Tumblr is the Next Big Thing

With practically the entire world evolving with social networking sites such as Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and WordPress, it seems as though there are networking sites popping up all over the web. Undoubtedly, the mass appeal associated with these networking sites is the ability that they provide users with to post and share everything from photos, videos, links and more importantly, the freedom to express their voice and thoughts on anything, with relatively low content prohibits.

More recently, business and freelance professionals have begun to rely on these social networking sites as a way to share updates regarding product releases and services as well as to promote and expand their business. For thousands of professionals, the world of social networking has opened doors to many opportunities for growth and expansion. Using these tools allows professionals to share their product or service with the world and cater to people who may have otherwise never discovered the skills and products available to them by a variety of topic experts.

The rave about social networking began in 2003 with the launch of MySpace, which quickly became the leading website among traffic ratings and was able to successfully top the ratings and traffic of other networking sites such as Facebook up until 2008 when Facebook launched new features in order to attract more users. Soon thereafter, MySpace lost many new registers as Facebook took over the networking scene. Over the years, other networking sites such as WordPress have become widely popular among users as a way to establish a blog. Having become increasingly popular over the past few years as a way to blog ( much like an online journal) about various topics of choice, blogging platforms have also seen a very significant amount of traffic and ratings alter within their systems.

In 2007, the more recently popular blogging and social networking platform Tumblr was released and launched for public use. Tumblr has since gained more than 7 million users who produce millions of new posts each day and more than 15,000 new registers for the platform each day.

Because of its easy to use and navigation abilities, Tumblr has made a home for millions of people who wish to be able to quickly and easily manage their networking profile at home or on the go. The variety of features that Tumblr provides are constantly growing and making names for themselves among the world of social media and networking.

Posting
For users who wish to post anything from quotes, links, photos, text or videos, the Tumblr dashboard is both easy to read and navigate. With large icons at the top of the dashboard page that direct users to the exact page they desire to post anything they like, the Tumblr dashboard has brought a completely new interface to bloggers.

Liking And Re-Blogging Posts
For each post that is uploaded via Tumblr, the website offers users the option to like (by clicking the heart icon) or to re-blog the posts of other Tumblr users with a few simple clicks. Just like other networking sites, Tumblr also offers users the option of allowing others to comment on or respond to posts. That's the wonderful thing about Tumbr, allowing comments is an option. Unlike other networking sites that are limited in options and simply give the option of making your post completely private and visible to only the user or to prohibit comments on the entire profile, Tumblr is innovative in the ability to alter each individual posting with options for complete privacy or to allow comments.

Customize Your Tumblr Theme
The Tumblr platform comes complete with hundreds of themes in different designs readily available in the theme garden. Unlike other blogging sites such as WordPress, there is no need to download any tedious files to install or pay for the ability to customize your CSS. Most of the themes that Tumblr offers are free, however it is entirely possible to install a premium theme on your Tumblog for as little as $9. For those users who desire to go a different route to customize their Tumblr blog, changing or using your own custom css is an added easy option for users.

Ways To Publish
Aside from logging on to the internet and updating your Tumblr posts from the dashboard, there are multiple other ways in which users can add new posts to their blog. By enabling email postings on Tumblr, users can effortlessly post to their blog by sending an email with the contained post to their personal Tumblr email address. When uploading posts by email, Tumblr can automatically sense the type of post in which the user is uploading and will convert it to the proper formatting, whether it be a quote, text, video, link or photo posting. In addition to offering users the ability to post by email, there are also options for updating via AOL Instant Messenger, (AIM) by calling in audio posts to the Tumblr hotline, posting from the Tumblr App via Android or iPhones,

Following
Similar to the concepts of Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr offers the ability to each user to follow the blogs and postings of other users. By doing this, new posts from blogs which are being followed will appear easily on the Tumblr dashboard.

Get Traffic
For users who may be considering switching to the Tumblr platform and are concerned over whether their blog will receive traffic, there is no need to worry as Tumblr is just as easily configured to adapt to the world of social media with the use of Google Analytics and establishing tags for each posting so as to include them in search engines. There are many blogs on Tumblr which already have thousands of followers thanks to the options of including their Tumblr in search engines and using the right resources for networking. By configuring Tumblr to import and export posts, users can easily incorporate their Tumblr postings with other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and Digg in order to network their blog and bring attention to their specific product, service or ideas.

Monetize Tumblr
For bloggers who use their current platform as a way to monetize and receive an income for their blog, Tumblr offers ad-free blogs with the option of incorporating Google Adsense accounts or AdWords. There are also ways to incorporate html so that PayPal donate or subscribe buttons can be included in the sidebar or header of the blog.

Tumblr has quickly become a platform which is receiving high ratings among The New York Times, cnet, Forbes, The New York Observer, President Barack Obama and Business week, to name a few. As more people are discovering the features and abilities that Tumblr gives users to fully customize their unique Tumblog, the fame associated with the easily navigated platform is growing quickly. Watch out Twitter and Facebook, there's a new social media website taking over.