Image via CrunchBaseWhen I first joined Tumblr I thought that the user base seemed pretty young overall-- I noticed a lot of teenagers posting and immediately felt like a creepy old geezer. But after learning how to use the site, customizing my blog template, and searching through scores of Tumblogs, I found a community of wonderful friends, artists, writers, and photographers to follow.
Tumblr has been great for me, personally, because it has brought new artists to my attention, kept me in tune with causes that are important to me (like the 99 Percent) it has enabled me to share my photography and favorite street art with others, and it has helped to keep me inspired whenever I feel like I need a visual (or audible) pick-me-up. There is also a chat function on Tumblr, but I have never had the chance to use it. Maybe I should? Do you use chat on Tumblr?
Pinterest is another fun microblogging platform, but it has its own unique twist. Users create virtual pinboards with various themes like "Things that inspire me" or "Recipes to try out" and add images to their boards by uploading or typing in the url of the site where the image was found so that the original content creator gets credit. Users can also repin and "like" the content that other Pinners share.
The point of the boards on Pinterest is so that you can organize your content so that you can easily find it. Some people even use their pinboards to plan their wedding or get ideas when the time comes to redecorate their apartment. It's like scrapbooking, except everything is online and accessible to anyone. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I should start a board to help me plan my first hip-hop music video. Sweet!
The result is a colorful collection of items curated by people all over the web. It seems to me that women are the targeted and actual demographic currently, but I'm sure more dudes will check it out as its popularity increases.
The reason I'm writing this post is because I've been contemplating my use (overuse?) of the multiple blogging platforms I've joined and wondering if there was any redundancy. I belong to a lot of social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, et cetera) and blogging platforms (Blogger, Tumblr, Pinterest), and I sometimes have the feeling that there is too much on my cyber plate.
Pinterest isn't too different from Tumblr-- both are highly visual, and both allow the user to post and reblog content instantly. The draw of Pinterest is the ability to organize your content on neat and pretty boards, while the draw of Tumblr is the community of artists, photographers, musicians and others who use the site to share their work.
I like both sites, but I don't want to get burnt out. Maybe I'm not using the sites correctly? I have no idea. Do you use Tumblr and/or Pinterest? Do you ever worry about micro-blogging burnout?
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