Instead of tweeting or updating a Facebook status, the blogging platform Tumblr offers users a chance to share interactive media.
Tumblr offers users free membership and the ability to customize their blog.
Members are in control of everything from the color of the links to sharing posts and using hashtags to find videos, posts, quotes, audio and photos.
The site went online in 2007 and is home to 74.2 million blogs and more than 31.9 billion posts, according to the New York City-based company’s website.
Freshman Adam Lewton said Tumblr reminds him of using MySpace, but has hopes the site will become more popular.
“It’s a place where you can find people who have the same interests as you,” Lewton said. “It’s like a mix of MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.”
Tumblr’s user-friendly customizable profiles have made it easy for people of all ages to share their interests and dedicate profiles to different topics, Lewton said.
If a user wanted to learn how to bake a cake, there’s hundreds of blogs that can show you how to make different types of cakes that include links, photos, quotes, videos and audio all in one post, Lewton said.
Senior Katelyn Murtha said she uses Tumblr as a way to have an interactive collection of the interests in her life.
“It’s more visual,” Murtha said. “I like being able to re-blog things onto my site from other people by just searching for what I’m looking for.”
Everyday there are meetings held by members that invite other users in their area to meet up and discuss their interests in person, according to the website.
According to the site’s FAQ, once the meeting is organized by a user, the employees at the website send a kit with stickers, tents and nametags that the user will have for their meeting.
Senior Alex Frederick said she doesn’t see Tumblr as the latest Internet fad that will fizzle out, but a site that could one day be as popular as Facebook.
“I use the website Pinterest and there’s a lot of crossing over from there to Tumblr,” Frederick said. “If I click on something and it takes me to Tumblr, I usually end up browsing it.”
Freshman Nyia Bentley said she uses Tumblr more than Facebook or Twitter and updates her blog every day. She shares pictures with her friends who also have accounts.
“It’s a place where people are more honest. It’s happy. That’s the only way I can describe it,” Bentley said. “Everyone is so nice. I think it’s going to be more popular than Facebook.”