For many individuals and businesses, blogging is part of a master communications plan whether they’re looking to establish yourself as an expert on a topic or to build a stronger brand online. While the intention is to post regular updates, it's not always easy to stick to a steady publishing schedule. Sometimes the software is to blame, it just takes too long to push your content live. Sometimes the writer is to blame, it's just too tough to dream up new ideas on a regular basis.
Since 2007, Tumblr has been fighting to rid the blogging world of both of those excuses. The tool, which reached a whopping 15 billion page views last month and reported 2 million new posts a day, takes the pain out of posting. It's been called everything from a light blogging platform to a microblogging service. To its users, it's simply blogging made easy.
If you don't like writing, you can call in an audio post to your site. If you're rarely in front of a computer, you can use the company's mobile app. If you want to have a team of people posting, you can do that too. Most importantly, Tumblr has taken the pressure off insofar as writing long-winded entries. With its slick interface and customizable design, a post can be as simple as a picture from your phone or a quote of the day.
While individuals have been tumbling for a few years now, there has been a steady surge of businesses that are adopting this new form of blogging. From well-known publishers to international diaper makers, here are five examples of businesses using Tumblr well.
- The Corcoran Group - New York City real estate posts
- Highchair Critics - Baby news bites from Huggies
- A Smarter Planet - Better ways to grow and build from IBM
- The Economist - Global news quotes, charts, and cartoons
- Pitchfork - An online guide to music
While Tumblr has experienced a couple of high-profile technical problems over the past year, like any new software company they're working on working out the kinks. The service is currently free, but there is online chatter about a paid version coming soon.
