TUMBLR A tutorial for beginners OBJECTIVES By the

TUMBLR A tutorial for beginners

OBJECTIVES By the end of this session, you will Know what Tumblr is and how it can be used in a library setting Be able to define microblogging and other terms related to social media practices Have the foundations to create an account in Tumblr Have the ability to draft, publish, and manage your blog posts

HOW IS TUMBLR DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS? Other microblog sites, such as Twitter, often have limitations on length of posts (e. g. tweets can be no greater than 140 characters) On the other hand, traditional blogs can have lengthy posts Tumblr posts, though often used to post ‘short-form’ content, have no restrictions on length I like to think of Tumblr as a hybrid between Twitter and traditional blogging.

I WORK IN A LIBRARY, WHY WOULD TUMBLR BE A GOOD TOOL TO USE? There are many reasons why Tumblr would be a good tool for libraries: Content does not need to be lengthy, as one may find in a traditional blog Posts can be created in advance and scheduled to be published automatically – perfect for people who don’t have time to blog full-time! Posts can contain multimedia- perfect for highlighting different items in your library’s collection Visit the NYPL at http: //nypl. tumblr. com/. This is a great example of a library taking advantage of Tumblr and using it to promote the library’s collections and programs.

WHAT DO I NEED TO GET STARTED? You will need an email address. Your email address will become your username when you log into Tumblr. Don’t have an email address? Visit one of these sites to set up a free email account (gmail, yahoo, aol) You will need access to the internet so that you can create your blog and post content. It’s a good idea to determine what your blog will be about before you create it. Decide what type of content you will post and how frequently you will post(For example, in order to create this tutorial, I created my own Tumblog. I decided that it would be a blog devoted to the first lines of novels and that I would publish the first line of a different novel every day. )

LET’S GET STARTED! In an internet browser, visit www. tumblr. com Click the ‘Sign Up’ button

Create a password for your account Enter your email address Create a URL name. If you happen to choose a name that is already taken, tumblr will notify you (as is the case here). Simply choose another word (or words) and click ‘Start’.

Once you have submitted your new username and password, captcha verification is required. Type the two words into the text box and click the ‘I’m Human!’ button.

YOU HAVE NOW CREATED AN ACCOUNT IN TUMBLR! This is your dashboard screen. You can choose to follow other blogs, this is where their posts will feed into. If you elect to create more than one blog, you will be able to access each one through your dashboard. Notice that the blog remains ‘Untitled’. Let’s give the blog a title and change the appearance. Click ‘Customize theme’.

FIRST, CHOOSE A THEME… At the top of the Customize page, select ‘theme’. This will pull up a variety of blog themes from which you can choose. A word of caution: the first several themes that appear cost a fee. If you scroll down, you will find that there are many free themes available for use.

GIVE YOUR BLOG A TITLE Click on ‘Info’. Under Title, type the name of your blog. You can add a description, but it is not necessary. As you are making changes to the appearance of your blog, it is best to save. You can click ‘Save’ as you go.

ADD YOUR PERSONALITY TO YOUR BLOG Change the background color. Check the boxes to choose what information will display on your main page Even though we are using a template, it does not mean that our blog won’t be unique. Click on ‘Appearance’ to make some changes. For example…. Add a tagline (you can see that I chose to include a tagline)

CREATE ADDITIONAL PAGES You may choose to add extra pages to your blog. For example, Simply add the name of the new you can create a page that will page to the URL. explain, in depth, what the blog is about. Click ‘Pages’. Give your page a title. Add content to the page. By clicking this box, users will be able to access the new page from within the blog itself. Give the link a name (try to be consistent and use the name that you added to the URL/Page title).

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR…. Go back to the dashboard. Notice that we now have a blog title (in this case, Hook Line) Click on ‘Open Hook Line’ to preview the blog.

START POSTING! Select ‘Quote’. You can always go back and make changes to the appearance of your blog. To create a post, go back to the dashboard screen. Determine what type of content you will be posting. Let’s post a quote…

ADDING CONTENT Type the quote in the quote box. You can add comments in the source section. Here, I’d like to hyperlink to the book from which the quote was taken. To do so: -Highlight the text that will be hyperlinked -- Click on the hyper link button…

HYPERLINKING Copy and paste the link in the ‘Link URL’ box. You can choose how you’d like the new window to display.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT You can see that the hyperlink has been added to the content. Lastly, I’ll add a tag to this post. Tags are a good way to organize your posts. If you assign tags to each post, users will be able to find similar content by clicking on each tag. Simply type the tag in the tag box. Click ‘Create Post’

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Interested in how libraries can use social media? Take a look at the following titles: Microblogging and Lifestreaming in Libraries Doing Social Media so it Matters: A Librarian’s Guide Interested in learning more about Tumblr? Visit these sites: http: //www. tumblr. com/help http: //www. makeuseof. com/tag/how-to-use-tumblr-to-easily-create-a-rich-mediablog/ http: //tumblring. net/about/