I attended a session on Tumblr and libraries, mainly because I have to admit – I don’t get Tumblr. I use it personally as a blog, but it is HUGE as more of a discovery tool for content, especially visual content. And a bunch of librarians also use it as a discussion/sharing tool (check out http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblarian).
Looks like some libraries are using Tumblr very successfully!
The panel included:
- Molly McArdle, library journal (moderator)
- Rachel Fershleiser, Tumblr
- Angela Montefinise, NYPL
- Erin Shea, Darien Library
- Kate Tkacik, Bank of Montreal Library
Some library-related Tumblr sites:
Random things I heard during the presentation:
- NYPL has over 100,000 followers on their tumblr account
- NYPL posts light and fun stuff – they are trying to humanize the organization via Tumblr
- They also use Tumblr posts as press releases, sending out the link instead of a traditional press release. Cool.
- Easy to share stuff with followers via the reblog button
- 108 million blogs on tumblr
- Use hashtags – you can follow those – i.e., #tumblarian – librarian tag on tumblr
- Tumblr skews very young. 20% teens
- Gifs – show your emotion about how you feel about something
- ROI – tumblr numbers don’t count non-tumblr users that look at a page. Only tumblr users views count…
Image by AJ Cann