The popularity of social media has proven that there is always a different way to connect with friends and family over the internet.
Many people are now finding it easy to display almost every aspect of their lives with the help of channels such as Twitter and Tumblr.
Twitter allows you to share thoughts through short messages or tweets of about 280 characters. The platform lets you follow other users and reshare or retweet their messages. Twitter keeps you updated on current events as you connect with friends and family.
On the other hand, Tumblr is a social media site that lets you share texts, images, videos, and audio files. Like Twitter, the platform allows you to reblog and follow posts from other users.
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Tumblr is all about blogs, but it doesn’t have a word limit. So you can express your thoughts. I anticipate more differences between these platforms. Let’s explore.
Tumblr vs Twitter – What Are They?
Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging social site that enables you to share texts, quotes, photos, links, music, and videos.
The mycelial network will enable you to do everything from your desktop, phone, or browser. Tumblr has a younger user demographic than other social media sites.
Tumblr’s age limit is 13 years. The New York-based social platform was created by avid web developers David Karp and Marco Arment, who launched the platform in 2007. Tumblr experienced instant success and popularity, hence its acquisition by the tech giant Yahoo.
According to GitHub, Tumblr has over 547 million monthly users, 178.4 million blogs created, and 44.6 billion blogs uploaded. Tumblr has been immensely embraced by users who wish to express themselves artistically with few restrictions.
The blogs on this platform are not screened or moderated in any way, making them susceptible to unsavory content, such as pornography and other explicit content.
All Tumblr content is public by default once you set up your profile. However, you can set up a second blog and keep it private.
Like most social media sites, Tumblr encourages interaction with other users through commenting on each other’s posts. But if you are not interested in interactions on the platform, you can prevent blog users from interacting with you.
Tumblr has simplified impulse posting with mobile apps on Google PlayStore for Android and AppStore for iOS.
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Twitter is a free social media site that allows users to broadcast short messages (tweets). These tweets are made of texts, photos, videos, or links. As long as you are connected to the internet, you can access Twitter through its app or website (twitter.com).
Twitter combines microblogging and instant messages, where registered users can post, share, retweet, like, or reply to tweets. Non-registered users can only read the tweets. Most people go to Twitter for the latest updates and promotions from brands.
Twitter is also an excellent platform for interacting with politicians, celebrities, and business leaders.
As an excellent source of current news and events, Twitter was the first source of breaking news about the water landing of US Airways Flight 549 in the Hudson River, New York City.
Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Noah Glass, and Evans Williams created Twitter in March 2006. The platform was available to the public in July 2006. In 2022 Elon Musk acquired Twitter, although some users were unhappy with the move.
Twitter might not be a fast-growing platform, but its users are loyal. Currently, Twitter has over 368 million active users globally. The platform has engaged about 7.2% of internet users and about 206 million monetized daily users worldwide.
By 2020, the Twitter app had 17 million downloads. According to Sensor Tower, Twitter mobile app downloads had hit six million by the end of the first quarter of the 2023 calendar year.
The Twitter app is available on Google PlayStore for Android and AppStore for iOS.
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Tumblr vs Twitter – Features
Tumblr Features
Posts
In a straightforward blogging interface, Tumblr posts are made of texts, photos, quotes, links, audio files, and videos. Tumblr can host multimedia content for free and accord multiple users posting rights.
You don’t have to publish your posts immediately. You can save posts as drafts, queue them, or schedule them to go live at a specific date and time automatically. You can also set your Tumblr posts as private or public.
Integrations
Tumblr integrates with Facebook and Twitter, which you can easily configure from your user dashboard.
Through these integrations, your Tumblr posts will automatically appear on your linked Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can toggle the cross-posting option on and off on every post.
Themes and customization
Every blog on Tumblr has a theme. The platform features an extensive gallery of paid and free themes, or you can get a theme of your liking from a third-party source, Theme Forest.
You can customize your Tumblr themes by editing the HTML or adding an extra CSS to the template.
Search engine optimization and analytics
Tumblr is an SEO-friendly platform as a well-organized SEO detail can help you get more traffic to your blog and interact more with users. Tumblr also uses analytics tools such as Google Analytics to help you measure and rank your Tumblr blog.
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Twitter Features
Tweets/posts
Twitter allows you to interact with other users by sharing short messages or tweets. Tweets have a character limit of 280. Subscribers in the United States have a character limit of 4,000. Tweets feature pictures and video clips.
Twitter circles
Twitter Circles allow you to send tweets to a selected group of users. Twitter allows you to choose who should be in your circle, and only users you’ve added can reply or interact with the tweets you share. You can add up to 150 users to your circle.
Verification and Twitter Blue
Twitter verification is the addition of the blue verified badge to notify your followers that your account is authentic.
Initially, the verification was free. But after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the Legacy verification policy changed, and only users who subscribe to Twitter Blue would retain the blue badge.
Twitter Blue is a premium subscription program that elevates the quality of conversations on Twitter. Apart from the blue badge on your profile, the paid subscription program gives you early access to features like Edit Tweet.
Other features that you can access with Twitter Blue include 50% fewer ads, prioritized conversation ranking, longer tweets of up to 10,000 characters, text formatting, custom app icon, custom navigation, Undo Tweet, and longer video uploads of up to two hours long, 8GB size, and 1080p.
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Twitter Spaces
Twitter Spaces allows you to have live audio conversations on Twitter. Anyone can join the conversation through Twitter, iOS, Android, or the web. All spaces are public, just like Tweets, meaning your space presence and activity are also public.
Tumblr vs Twitter – Pricing
Tumblr Pricing
Tumblr is free to use but also features optional paid services. The Tumblr Post+ plan is a flexible post-level subscription that allows you to share content without limits and earn money. Tumblr Post+ has two accounts, supporters and creators.
To earn from Tumblr as a creator, you need a separate account for payments. With the creator account, you can create posts with a paywall, only to be viewed by you and your supporters.
As a supporter, you can support creators you love through a subscription of $5.99 per month.
Post+ does not place a paywall over an entire blog. So whether you choose to enable Post+ or not, you can still make free blog posts on Tumblr.
Twitter Pricing
Twitter allows you to create up to 1,500 tweets per month for free. Twitter also has an optional paid option called Twitter Blue. As mentioned earlier, Twitter Blue elevates the quality of your conversations and is available worldwide.
You can opt-in to Twitter Blue with localized prices starting from $8 per month or $84 per year. Twitter Blue is available globally on iOS, Android, and the web. However, new accounts can only access Twitter Blue after 30 days.
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Tumblr vs Twitter – Similarities and Differences
Similarities
Twitter and Tumblr have the same goal of allowing users to write down their thoughts for others to read. The platforms were created to enhance communication over the internet, and if explored extensively, they can be a source of livelihood.
Both Twitter and Tumblr are open media. While you can hide some posts from the public, you might not hide your profile from the world. This makes both platforms easy for newcomers to make real-life interactions and relationships.
Twitter and Tumblr have huge communities at various levels. Twitter is home to celebrities, and Tumblr has everyone else. There is an inexplicable desire for users on Tumblr, and they most likely use it for fame.
Before you start posting on Twitter or Tumblr, you must ensure that you have a target audience. You can reach your target audience by following users to glimpse their innermost thoughts.
Both Twitter and Tumblr connect people from all corners of the world. Whether you need a platform to share your thoughts or connect with like-minded individuals, Twitter and Tumblr are your go-to platforms.
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Differences
While Twitter and Tumblr share information in texts, photos, and videos, Twitter focuses more on communication. The character limit on Twitter ensures that you go straight to the point within a short time. On the other hand, you can make posts of over 1,000 words on Tumblr.
In addition to over 1,000 words on Tumblr, you can incorporate animated GIFs or multimedia extensions. While wordy passages can be tiresome, they are excellent for long-term communication. Twitter is ideal for short-term use.
Tumblr has more customization options than Twitter. With Tumblr, you can choose a theme that suits your preferences, upload an avatar, and have bloggers beside you share what they want. Its comments function is also more intuitive than Twitter.
Tumblr is a more complete blogging site than Twitter. It added features that make it more complex. You need to learn how to upload files, customize your site, and manage your content. Twitter is simple, with quick adaptation to the masses.
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Twitter has a character limit of 280 for free users and 4,000 for premium subscribers. On the other hand, there is no such thing as a character limit on Tumblr, so you can express yourself the way you want.
Twitter’s algorithm features a set of rules that rank content on the platform. It also has mechanisms that restrict users against sensitive content, such as nudity or sexual behaviors, for users who do not include their birthdate on their profile or those under 18.
There have been massive complaints about adult content on Tumblr. A move that had Tumblr removed from iOS. However, in 2019, Tumblr announced it’d remove potentially mature content only for iOS.
In 2022, Tumblr announced again that it would bring back nudity since the 2018 ban led to dwindling popularity and profits.
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Tumblr vs Twitter – Pros and Cons
Tumblr Pros
- Tumblr provides an excellent blend between content marketing and social media, crucial driving forces for SEO today.
- Tumblr is an excellent platform for reaching a younger audience as it capitalizes on fickle attention spans. Its target age group consists of teenagers, young adults, and tricenarians.
- It is easy to set up, customize, and use Tumblr. The platform allows users to post multimedia and other content in a short-form blog. You can choose the kind of blogs and content to follow, customize your profile, post, or schedule your blogs for later sharing.
- Tumblr allows for flexibility and free expression of thoughts. You will encounter different creative content on linguistics, art, history, music, and humorous blogs.
- Tumblr does not have bombarding advertisements. While the platform makes substantial revenue from adverts, they are subtle and well-placed for minimum distractions.
- Its intuitive dashboard allows easy navigation through posts and blogs and suggests blogs to follow.
- The Tumblr site is visually appealing.
- Tumblr is a free platform with a free SSL (secure socket layer) certificate. SSL encrypts crucial information such as your credit card number, bank account details, passwords, and personal email details and hides all this data into a secret code that cannot be hacked or decoded.
- It offers free storage for your content. In a day, Tumblr allows you to post up to 250 blogs and upload up to 75 images, as long as each file does not exceed 10 MB.
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Tumblr Cons
- Tumblr’s privacy settings are limited, a considerable concern since the platform’s age limit is 13. While its safe mode filters out explicit content, it is not a solid barrier to teens as they can easily access explicit content by searching using specific words and tags.
- The vast presence of bots on Tumblr is raising many user concerns. Bit chats can connect to your blog to mine confidential information, create server problems, or even create groups to send pornographic materials.
- While you can create a blog at no charge on Tumblr, you cannot own it, as the Tumblr Corporation owns it.
Twitter Pros
- You can reach a wider audience with Twitter. The platform is used by millions of people who may be interested in a particular topic you are an expert in.
- Due to its wider audience, Twitter is also a robust marketing tool. Getting users to endorse a product on Twitter to your target customers is easy. Some sectors that can benefit more from this robust tool include business consultancy, recruitment services, and retail stores.
- Twitter is a crucial tool for passing beneficial information. It is a mix of messaging, blogging, and giving feedback.
- Twitter allows two-way customer communication, making it ideal for delivering customer service.
- It can help you solidify your brand identity through effective brand personality communication. It can help you reach the right audience for your products and services and build a loyal follower/customer base.
- Twitter is excellent for crisis management. It helps you react to negative publicity and inform your customers during a crisis.
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Twitter Cons
- You need to maintain your presence on the platform to keep connecting with your audience.
- You need to send out tweets at the right time when the maximum audience is online to get the best out of the platform.
- The presence of spam accounts can harm your legit Twitter account by hacking or misusing it.
- The character limit of 280 limits sharing of content.
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Final Words: Tumblr vs Twitter – What is the Difference?
From the above review, I can confidently conclude that while Tumblr and Twitter have a similar goal of sharing thoughts among users, they have distinct features and functionality. Twitter is more into microblogging, while Tumblr is a comprehensive social networking site.
Twitter is simple and Tumblr is more complex. While Tumblr is solid for sending texts, videos, and audio files, it’s limited in the number of devices you can access.
Overall, the two platforms do an excellent job connecting people worldwide.
