Simply – all the CMSy stuff it comes with. Blogs are an awesome platform. WordPress lets our entire staff contribute to the same blog, maintain tags and slugs, save and give feedback on drafts, upload and store media, back and forward publish posts, group our archive by month, lets our audience comment, lists trackbacks, et cetera, et cetera. It’s awesome! Blogs rock! But we knew this. WordPress is the perfect way for a business like ours to communicate with our audience.
But…
Last year, a site called project.ioni.st showed us a completely different form. The long editorials with meticulously formatted links and images we were used to seeing on blogs seemed absent. All of the editors’ thoughts, creations, experiences, and discoveries poured down the screen. It was like flipping through the scrapbook of a like-minded person we had never met.
The editors seemed to post with zero obligations. Anything neat they came across went up. Little or no commentary was needed. The only context was the author. How absolutely beautiful.
After giving up on more blogs than I could count, I had finally found the perfect way to share myself on the web. And here I am five-months later with David’s Log. My friends read it since it’s so easy to digest, and it’s a joy to post knowing they’re reading.
And unlike any blog I’ve ever tried to maintain in the past, it’s never an obligation. I never feel compelled to sit down and editorialize on my day. Instead, I’m addicted to my “Share on Tumblr” bookmarklet. Anything neat I find or create goes up.
Yeah, it’s still a blog. But it’s a new philosophy. It’s free of noise, requirements, and commitments. And it’s finally here.
26 responses so far ↓
Jeffrey Winchester // March 4, 2007 at 12:33 am
I agree completely with you on this. I just heard Leo on the TWIT podcast talk about their Tumblr Logs. I have a couple of blogs (wordpress & drupal) and have even set my mom up with a blog and I think they are so cool. The thing is that I’m careful to only post important stuff. So now I can post those little life snippets on http://jww.tumblr.com/ which is linked from my personal blog. I love it!
_ // March 6, 2007 at 10:29 am
Please, Leo Twiter, spell complex urls slowly…you do have non-native listeners.
Good idea this minimal blog platform. It’s open source?
Big Square Blog » Tumblr Is To Blogging What Sprinkles Are To Sundaes (Or Why Tumblr Rocks) // March 22, 2007 at 10:40 pm
[...] integrate into their systems. Heck, even the official Tumblr blog is run by WordPress, and for good reason. Tumblr is not a blogging platform, per se, so I won’t be treating it like [...]
Shaping Youth » Tumblr: Mixed Media Blog Format That’s Short & Sweet // April 5, 2007 at 6:05 pm
[...] like to stay updated with new Tumblr add-ons, their official blog lives at WordPress. I know, sounds ironic at first, being a ‘blog service’ but it really only validates the notion that these guys prefer [...]
Wesley Anderson // May 16, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Tumblr is great, I’m really enjoying posting again. Having a “proper” blog was overkill for me. Tumblr suits me right down to a t. Thanks for creating it gents, keep up the cool work!
WeS
Nicklaus Deyring // May 21, 2007 at 6:01 pm
It’s encouraging to own up to and explain why you’re using wordpress; kudos on creating such an easy to use blog alternative. It’s a fantastic new philosophy in the blog software market.
Ed Wenn // May 22, 2007 at 4:00 am
Guys, I love Tumblr; it’s got me blogging again afater quite a gap – during which time I set up a photoblog and concentrated on that. I don’t have a lot to say to the world (or maybe I’m not conceited enough to think that people would want to hear it), but I love the informality of being able to splat something up on my Tumblelog (http://edwenn.tumblr.com) and then direct people to it if I think they’d be interested. Another positive side-effect is that I’m more interested in looking at stuff online now that I have a home to put all the cool stuff that I come across in….if that makes sense :-)
BTW, I was directed here by that man Laporte after hearing him gushing about Tumblr on an episode of TWiT.
One suggestion though: is there any way of having a Tumblr directory? Maybe there already is one? I’d love to see other people’s Tumblelogs, but don’t really see how I can find them. Suspect I’m being a bit dim here. Maybe someone can help me out.
Ed
London, UK.
astro // July 17, 2007 at 1:15 am
i love the concept too. The only thing that i really miss is the comments feature. Would this feature be something that tumblr will consider adding as part of the basic feature?
astro // July 17, 2007 at 1:18 am
sorry i was too eager to click on this entry on why you guys are using wordpress that i did not even read the rest of the blog! hahaa
anyway i know that you guys are working on something real cool so do ignore my earlier comment!
Chris Thomson // August 18, 2007 at 11:41 pm
It is quite funny that the official tumblr blog is on a different platform, but your reasoning makes a lot of sense.
@astro – You could add Haloscan comments to a Tumblr theme!
My New Tumblelog « Fundamentally Reformed // August 30, 2007 at 10:00 am
[...] editorial comment by the blogger. Check out my new tumblelog, and read up on them at Wikipedia. This post on tumblr.com’s blog is great on explaining the whole conecpt, as [...]
Nicholas // September 23, 2007 at 4:23 pm
You may want to fix the link to this post in your welcome sidebar widget. (And then delete this post.)
LusciousGirl // November 4, 2007 at 11:58 pm
my new pics at http://www.spymac.com/details/?2296122
harybo // November 24, 2007 at 5:53 am
you can search other tumblr sites via google like:
site:tumblr.com
Why Wordpress? - the Tumblr Question // January 9, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] I just read the strangest apologia for a new service: Uh, why’s the official Tumblr blog on WordPress? [...]
Product Junkie // January 22, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I think it just makes sense. For example if your hosting company is having some trouble we can at least read some news here. Quite smart.
Thanks for the improvements. I am new here but I do like the format a lot.
Best regards.
FD @ http://www.condhotel.com (Condo Hotel South Beach)
music // January 30, 2008 at 4:18 am
What do you mean ?
floofsdwelo // February 6, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Nice site keep it up!
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http://www.dasofte.com
Diana Martins // May 14, 2008 at 5:56 am
Hi! I´m Diana and i live in Portugal.
Where i can ask for informations about the Tumblr? And how can make to add friends to my Tumblr?
I´m sorry for the bad explanation of my english.
And i thank if you can help me!
Keep creating a good work
And good vibes!
bye!
Diana
Diana Martins // May 14, 2008 at 5:58 am
!! you can visit my tumblr and give me your oppinion!?
Thanks!
dianamartins.tumblr.com
music artist // June 16, 2008 at 10:17 am
Thanks for the improvements. Best regards.
rock // June 29, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I love the concept!
prshnth / The problem with tumblelogging // August 12, 2008 at 8:51 am
[...] are great. Earlier this year we wrote about why we keep the official Tumblr Blog on WordPress: http://blog.davidville.com/2007/02/23/why-wordpress. But for many people, tumblelogs are just as (and sometimes lots more) fun and a whole lot [...]
Elvira // November 5, 2008 at 10:11 pm
mdyayayaya ….. * Many people think *…. the author thanks for the post!
Leona // December 21, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Thanks for sharing!
RaiulBaztepo // March 28, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language ;)
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo