Earlier today, I posted a podcast about my experience as a Tumblr user and how it has improved my life and networking skills. As a blogging website turned community-driven social media platform, it is ahead of its time. However, one thing I did not mention is the fact that long-time users have been unsatisfied with many of the most recent updates.
Tumblr has gotten rid of one of its greatest features: replying to posts. Though the website still has personal communication capabilities through instant messaging, inboxing and a feature called "fan mail," there is no way to respond directly to a post without reblogging it or addressing the author ambiguously through the other messaging systems.
Tumblr's strong sense of community has been strongly compromised by this new update and users are extremely upset. Though Tumblr is still a good way for companies to reach out to and engage with their fans, their fans are going to start leaving this particular platform if the people in charge continue to refuse to listen to them.
In the PR and social media world, it is important to listen to your audiences and respond to them accordingly. Replies have been missing from Tumblr since November 2015 and the staff have refused to address the issue. That is definitely not real-time responding.
Until next time!
Kathryn
Today's podcast:
Edit 3/28/16: Tumblr has brought back replies! Thank you staff!
I have friends that use Tumblr, but I myself haven't made one yet. I hear that you can get spend hours on it, so I don't know if it would be great for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly interesting that Tumblr did away with the social aspect of Tumblr of being able to comment and respond to peoples blogs. I think Twitter, especially if it extends their character count per post - which they have been talking about - could potentially take users away from Tumblr. I personally don't use the site, but I do know the social aspect was a big part of the website.
ReplyDelete