Get The Most Out Of: Tumblr

Today in our new series, titled “Get The Most Out Of…” we’re going to cover the Tumblr blogging platform. We’re big fans of Tumblr, and you can actually follow our blog by looking for the “+Follow” link in the upper right corner. Our podcast, Let Us Present, is also on Tumblr, too. Read on to learn how to best use our browser extension and mobile app to post to Tumblogs and read your Dashboard.

Read about Tumblr in the browser extension!
Read about Tumblr in the mobile iOS app!

Tumblr & the Streamified Browser Extension
Before you can do anything with Tumblr, you have to add your account to Streamified! Here’s the steps to add and customize any stream in the browser extension, modified from our extension walkthrough:

  1. Click on “Add New Stream” to reveal the list of streams you can add. Click on the streams you want to add (right now, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Reader are all supported). Follow the instructions in the pop-up window to log in, and wait for the window to close itself.
  2. You should see a black notification appear in the upper right corner of your browser to confirm that the stream was added successfully, as well as the stream’s icon and account name under “Streamified Settings” on the left.
  3. To customize your Tumblr stream, click on it and select what you would like to view in your stream. By default, your Dashboard (all the posts from people you’re following on Tumblr) and your primary Tumblog are selected (look for the green check in the lower right corner of the icon).
  4. If you disable your Dashboard, your Tumblr stream will not show you any posts.
  5. Having specific Tumblogs enabled means that you will be able to post to them from the Streamified browser extension.

For example: If you want to not see any Tumblr posts in Streamified, but you still want to be able to post to Tumblogs A (your default), B, and C, disable your Dashboard (enabled by default) and enable blogs A, B, and C.

Also, if you want to see Tumblr posts in Streamified, but only use it to post to Tumblog C (not your default), keep your Dashboard enabled, disable blog A (enabled by default), and enable blog C.

There are 3 different types of ways to post to Tumblr from the browser extension! Let’s walk you through it.

  1. Create a brand-new Google+ post that you want to post to Google+ and Tumblr. Again, noted in our walkthrough, you can either click in the compose box at the top of your screen (it says “Share what’s new…” inside it) or click the “Share” button in the upper right corner to create a new post. You should see little icons for each of your enabled Tumblogs below the composing box; just click and unclick to enable each one as a recipient for your crossposted message. Fill in your content, then hit share.
  2. Reshare a Google+ post, sending your reshare to Tumblr, too. Click the reshare button on any Google+ post, and you should, again, see the crossposting icons below the compose window. The reshare-crosspost works best when you input text in the “Add a comment…” field that pops up whenever you click to reshare. Remember that these crossposting features also work when you’re managing a Google+ brand page, too.
  3. Post or reshare solely to Tumblr, not Google+. Follow the steps in either #1 or #2 above to create your post or reshare, then click the “x” on the circles or people Google+ is prompting you to share to to remove them. This makes Google+ think you aren’t sharing to anyone, which will result in no posts going to Google+. Then you can select the other recipients, create your post, and hit share. Watch the notifications to ensure the posts are completed. The Google+ compose window will stay open, since technically you didn’t post to Google+.

You can post a photo to Tumblr directly from the Streamified browser extension! Please note that right now, you can solely post one photo right now, though Google+ does allow you to attach multiple photos to a post. Right now, it only posts the first one you attached. To do this, click on the photo icon below the compose window and add your photo. You can add text in the input box, or leave it blank.

Now that you know how to post to Tumblr from the browser extension, let’s talk about reading your Tumblr dashboard. The following assumes that you have your Dashboard enabled, of course.

If you have “Inject Posts into G+” checked in Streamified settings, you’ll see posts from your Tumblr dashboard side by side with your Google+ posts. Otherwise, to view your Tumblr stream, mouseover the Streamified icon in the left-side navigation bar and select your Tumblr stream. There are two things you can do here:

  • Like a post in your Tumblr dashboard by clicking the “Like” link.
  • Reblog any post to your Tumblog(s), without added commentary. Hover your mouse over the “Reblog” link and select the specific Tumblog you want to reblog to. Remember that you need to have Tumblogs enabled in Streamified settings before you can post or reblog to them. Currently, you cannot reblog to multiple Tumblr blogs at once, though you can continue to mouseover “Reblog” and do it manually.

Some current, known limitations:

  • Right now, you can’t post a video to Tumblr by attaching a video to a Google+ post before sharing to Tumblr.
  • Photosets do not display in the customized layout of photos. In the Tumblr stream in the browser extension, a post’s photos will display one after the other.
  • You currently cannot tag your Tumblr posts, search tags, or view your tracked tags.
  • You cannot delete a post you made to Tumblr from the browser extension directly within the browser extension. You will need to go to the Tumblr website to do so.
  • You cannot input HTML tags and have them result in formatting in your Tumblr posts.

Last but not least, clicking on “view _ notes” (where _ indicates the number of Tumblr notes a specific post has) will take you to the direct link of the Tumblr post.

Tumblr & the Mobile iOS App

To get started, if you haven’t already, add your Tumblr account to Streamified.

  1. Open up the app and tap on the settings button in the upper left corner to go to the My Streams view. Tap on the “+” button and select Tumblr, then log in with your credentials to authorize the access.
  2. To customize your Tumblr stream, tap on the Tumblr icon to expand the view under “My Streams” so it shows your Dashboard and Tumblogs, in case the view is not already expanded. Select what you would like to view in your stream. Again, your Dashboard and primary Tumblog are enabled by default (look for the on/off switch).
  3. If you disable your Dashboard, your Tumblr stream will not show you any posts.
  4. Having specific Tumblogs enabled means that you will be able to post to them from the Streamified mobile app.

Just like in the browser extension, you can disable your Dashboard so you don’t view a stream of Tumblr posts. You can also disable certain Tumblogs you don’t want to post to via Streamified. It’s entirely up to you.

Now that your Tumblr stream is set up, let’s talk about posting to Tumblogs. There are a few ways to go about it.

  1. Compose a new post and send it to Tumblr. Tap on the pencil icon in the upper right corner to open the compose view. You can attach a link or a picture here (though Tumblr supports photosets for multiple pictures in one post, this currently is not supported by the Streamified mobile app) if so desired. Tap to enable the specific Tumblog you want to post to and wait for the icon to change to color, with an arrow. Remember that you can post to more than one place at once, and the character count does not suggest a limit for the Tumblr platform.
  2. Share a link from a blog subscription or Google Reader while scrolling through your streams or reading one of these posts in full-screen mode. Posts from these streams have a special arrow button in the lower right corner. Tap this button to bring up the options, then hit “Share.” The compose view will appear, with the page’s URL already attached. Add optional explanation text, select the Tumblog you want to post to, and tap “Post.”
  3. Share a page you’re viewing with Streamified’s in-app browser to Tumblr. Did you click on a link to read it in-depth, then decide you want it to be on your Tumblog forever? Tap on the arrow icon in the upper right corner to pull up some options, then hit “Share.” The compose view will appear, with the page’s URL already attached. Add optional explanation text, select the Tumblog you want to post to, and tap “Post.”

Because Tumblr supports posting links and photos without commentary, you don’t have to type any text into the input box when you’ve attached a link or a picture to the post. You can, of course, but it’s not necessary.

The last thing to cover is reading your Tumblr dashboard. Again, the following assumes that you have your Dashboard enabled.

You can either choose to view your Tumblr posts chronologically with posts from your other streams in the “All Streams” view or by itself by navigating to the Tumblr stream. Here’s how to interact with your dashboard in the app:

  • Like a post in your Tumblr dashboard by bookmarking it. Tap the bookmark icon in the upper right corner of every post (not the window) and you’ll see it turn red to indicate the post was bookmarked.
  • Reblog any post to your Tumblog(s), without added commentary. Tap on the reblog button in the lower right corner of any Tumblr post, then select “reblog.” You’ll then be prompted to choose the blog you want to reblog to. Remember that you need to have Tumblogs enabled in Streamified settings before you can post or reblog to them. Currently, you cannot reblog to multiple Tumblr blogs at once, though you can continue to tap on the reblog button to do it manually.
  • Reblog any post to your Tumblog(s), with added commentary. Tap on the reblog button in the lower right corner of any Tumblr post, then select “quote.” The compose view will appear, and you can input the commentary you want to include in the text box. Select the blogs you want to receive your reblog+commentary. You can send a reblog+commentary to multiple Tumblr blogs at once.

You can change Streamified’s behavior, making Streamified think that bookmarking a Tumblr post will not Like it in the Tumblr social network. Navigate to the “My Streams” view, then tap-hold on the Tumblr icon. Scroll down to “Save Bookmarks to Favs” and switch the on/off switch for the behavior you prefer.

The same current, known limitations apply to the mobile app:

  • Right now, you can’t post a video to Tumblr by attaching a video in the compose window before sharing to Tumblr.
  • Photosets do not display in the customized layout of photos. In the mobile app, tap the post to go to full-screen view and swipe through the photos one by one (similar to Tumblr’s own mobile apps).
  • You currently cannot tag your Tumblr posts, search tags, or view your tracked tags.
  • You cannot input HTML tags and have them result in formatting in your Tumblr posts.

One last thing: you can delete Tumblr posts you’ve made in the mobile app. Tap-hold on any post you wrote and select “Delete.”

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How do you use Streamified? Let us know in a comment or hit us up at our Twitter, Facebook, or Google+! Stay tuned for next week’s installment of “Streamified & You,” featuring the Twitter platform!

Justine Dolorfino is Streamified’s marketing coordinator. She can be reached at Justine@Streamified.com.

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