How to Start on Tumblr: Tips and Tricks For a Great Experience

So you want to start a blog on Tumblr.com. Tumblr works differently than any other platform, so it can be hard to learn the ins and outs of the website.

Picking a Username

To start, sign up for a Tumblr account and pick a username. If you want a blog dedicated to a fandom, brainstorm ideas for a related URL. An easy pick would be [adjective]character's name. Usernames that may first spring to mind with this format may not be available, but you can easily find something that fits you and your blog. If you don't know where to start, pick a username as a placeholder until you decide. Once you've become more immersed in your fandom(s) of choice, one may come to you.

If you aren't in a fandom or don't want a fandom username, make up your own. Most users on Tumblr remain anonymous, some not even giving their real names. Usernames that are your name, as you might use on Instagram or Twitter, are less common. As long as your username is available, you can choose anything. Note that usernames double as the URL for your blog ([username].tumblr.com), so hyphens are used instead of underscores or periods. For your username, you can use capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.

A username can include lowercase and capital letters, numbers, and hyphens. You could try a short phrase from the lyrics of a favorite song or even that song's title if the URL is available. If you feel that something represents you, try it.

Designing Your Blog

Once you have decided on your username, or if you are using a placeholder, you can choose your blog theme. You can make your blog any color and make the text on your blog any color. Most people are mindful to choose a text color that contrasts with your blog color. For example, if your blog is purple, you could make the text a dark grey.

Keep in mind that a lighter grey will blend with the purple background. This rule applies to any similar colors, like yellow and green or purple and blue. Other users will judge you based on how your blog looks. If the color scheme makes it unreadable, you are less likely to make mutuals.

Mutuals are users that you follow who follow you back. There isn't much importance placed on follower count on Tumblr. It isn't public information, so no one knows how many followers you have unless you tell them yourself. Instead, people tend to highly value mutuals. While the numbers don't matter, a lot of the fun from Tumblr comes from making mutuals and even friends and interacting with them.

Once you have chosen your blog colors, you can pick a profile picture and a blog header from your camera roll or find an image online that you like. You don't have to have a header or profile picture. You can select the option to turn them off, but your profile picture will remain visible everywhere except at the top of your blog. Your profile picture will show as a default avatar. You can change it to a random picture if you'd like or take a screenshot of your blog and crop a square area of your blog's color to have a neutral avatar.

Next, you can decide whether to add a blog title. It isn't necessary, but some do it. Users tend to leave their blog titles blank and put their names in their bio. Your bio tells people who you are. You can include your name, pronouns, and anything else you want people to know. If you are under 18, putting your age in your bio can be a bad idea. Generally, wait until you are a later teenager (16+) if you want to advertise your age, but be aware that this could attract some bad characters. You are under no obligation to put any of this information out there. If you have a side blog you want to link to, you can put it in your bio.

A side blog is made by pressing your username at the top of your blog page and pressing the plus sign. Keep in mind that this blog is attached to your main blog. You cannot follow people, send asks, like, or reply to posts with a side blog. Many people have side blogs if they want to post different content than they do on their main blog, such as having a side blog to post writing to. There are a lot of uses for side blogs, but it's up to you to decide whether you want one or not.

Adding Links

Linking things in your bio can be tricky. You have to be on desktop and have a general idea of how to use HTML codes, but the process is easy once you know how to do it.

First, log onto your blog on desktop if you have been making it from mobile. In the top right corner is a line of symbols. It ends with a big button with a pencil symbol. Next to that is a symbol of a person. Click that and find the "Edit Appearance" option in the settings options it will give you under your blog's name. Next, click edit theme.

Paste in "<a href="link">text</a>" without the quotation marks at the beginning and end where it says "description." Where it says "link," paste the link, leaving the quotation marks. Where it says "text," write what you want the link to say. If you add a link to another social media, you can label it with "Follow me on Twitter." Save and check to make sure the link is added properly.

Start Following People

Now that you have finished your bio, you can move on to following people. When you sign up, Tumblr asks you to select a couple of interests. Related content will be on your dashboard to start. You can click the tags under the posts to find more posts about the same thing. You can also search for whatever you want to see, such as your fandom. Follow people with blogs you like. If you like their content, go ahead and follow them.

This is where Tumblr differs from other platforms. When you like something on Tumblr, it doesn't do anything. Generally, people will use likes as an acknowledgment of a post, such as liking a mutual's post. If you want to share something you like, such as art, you have to reblog it. Reblogging is how you share things on Tumblr. If you want other people to see it, reblog it. You reblog by clicking the rectangle made by two arrows and hitting "reblog" or by using the fast reblog feature. To use it, you press and hold reblog and swipe up to reblog the post to the blog you most recently posted on.

It may take time to start following a lot of blogs, but it is important to curate your dashboard for the best experience.

Making Posts

When you are ready, you can make your first post. It can say anything. You can write an introduction (once again, you do not have to share any information you don't want to, even things like your name or your age) to start your blog off. Then, you can pin it to the top of your blog using the three horizontal dots and pressing the box that says "Pin post." Doing so will keep your introduction at the top of your blog, above all your other posts. Keep in mind that there is a post limit of 250 per day. Most people only occasionally meet post limit, though.

Some people will have a tag for their original posts like [theirname].txt. Now is when you would decide if you want to go that route. If you do, choose a tag for your posts. If you don't and change your mind later, you can start.

Tags and Using the Queue

Tags are unique on Tumblr. You can use them for anything from sorting your blog's content to holding a conversation with someone by reblogging what they say and responding in the tags. Some people will say "prev" when responding to the tags of the previous reblog. This practice has picked up traction lately, but the original way of doing this was to screenshot their tags and add them and what you have to say as a comment on the reblog. As you get used to Tumblr, you will piece together exactly how you want to use the tags. If you intend on making content such as fanfiction or gifsets, you can make tags for these such as [name].pdf or [name].gif or any other thing you can think of that you want to tag them with. Tags can be whatever you want them to be.

You can also set up a queue. To have the fast queue feature, click the settings gear on your blog, click "general settings," and scroll down to the account settings. You will find the option to use fast queue under "Labs." Lastly, turn it on. Now the queuing process can be done quickly. If you want to fill your queue and let it post with no organization, all you have to do is press and hold the queue button on the post you wish to add to your queue. Many people will fill their queue with photos, gifs, and videos while just reblogging text posts when they are online, but it's up to you what you do. You can add up to 1,000 posts to your queue. The queue is widely thought to be good for running your blog while you are offline.

If you want to add organizational tags to your queued posts, click the queue button to open up the post and add your tags. If you wish to sort by show, you can tag it with the show. The same goes for however you want to sort your posts. Then, like reblogging, click the "Queue" button at the top to add it to your queue.

You can block tags and hide posts made by specific users. Go to general settings like you did to set up fast queue. At the bottom of the first bock of the settings, you will find "Filtering" under "Color palette." Click "Filtering" and press the +New button. Then type in whatever tag you want to be blocked. Many users filter out #long post to hide longer posts. They do this so they don't have to scroll past the whole post, which can take some time.

Reaching Others

You can communicate with other blogs without messaging them, too. This is called sending an ask. You can either send one with your blog attached or send one anonymously. This is sending an anon. Some blogs will not offer the anonymous option. When a blog receives your ask, they can choose whether to answer it. If you sent it off anon, they can answer privately, too.

It can be helpful to look through settings when you have the time to familiarize yourself with what settings are available.

Etiquette

A helpful feature is the read more feature. On desktop, there is a button to add a read more. To use this feature on mobile, type :readmore:, and hit enter. Now anything under the read more is hidden to shorten the long post. Many writers will use it, adding it after the first few lines of what they post. No one has to see what's behind the read more unless they're interested, saving users from tedious scrolling to get to the next post. Using a read more or adding #long post in the tags of longer posts is very common etiquette. Users will follow this unspoken rule to make everyone's experience a bit better.

The Beauty of Tumblr

As you use Tumblr, you will get to know the trends and can even add your own take on them into the mix. You can meet people, make friends, and find new interests. There are very few guidelines about what you cannot say. This leads many people to like Tumblr over other social media because Tumblr hasn't yet had to become advertiser-friendly. If you want, you can even support Tumblr by buying ad-free browsing or using Tumblr Blaze to promote your posts. The user base finds it very important to make sure Tumblr does not have to become advertiser-friendly. Other social media have had to, which can negatively impact the user experience.

While Tumblr can be hard to get into using, it doesn't take long to learn the different rules and etiquette people follow. Content creators love Tumblr because it uniquely lets them share content. Fandoms have a lot of room for creativity due to the format of Tumblr's posts. Every user has a unique experience on Tumblr and many users choose to stay because of the difference from other social media. Once you use the platform, you can decide whether to stay or not. If you stay, you can keep these tips in mind for later.