Which is better WordPress or Tumblr? See how they stack up here
By Emily Rae Robles/ In the world of blogging, many different types of hosts have sprung up, each claiming a different sort of advantage, with which users will be blessed if they choose to start a blog on their site. Having flitted from Blogspot to Tumblr to WordPress, I feel that I have some amount of familiarity with these particular sites. Today, I have for you an interview I recently conducted between myself, Tumblr, and WordPress. It was difficult to maintain an unbiased attitude throughout the interview, since I have pursued relationships with both of them, but here is the result. I hope you will enjoy the different personalities that shine through their words.
Before we get started, please recall that Emlyn already hosted a match-up between WordPress and BlogSpot; you can read that here.
Emily Rae: Good morning, Tumblr. Good morning, WordPress. Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to getting to know you better.
WordPress: Thank YOU for having us. I look forward to working with you.
Tumblr: Haha, man this is awesome! I'm being interviewed! Everyone, check this out! Is it okay if I take pictures?
Emily Rae: Feel free. Just remember that this interview is going to be posted all over the internet. WordPress, are you all right with pictures?
WordPress: Pictures are all right, but why not focus on the lovely words we all are speaking? I might make it difficult for these pictures to be posted, Tumblr. A thousand words are much better.
Emily Rae: Any other questions before we begin?
WordPress: I will save my comments until the end of this post.
Tumblr: Questions? Oh, I love questions! I have an entire feature where people can ask and answer questions.
Emily Rae: Do you have any you want to ask right now, Tumblr?
Tumblr: Can I tell a joke? I know a really good one about why Harry Potter is better than Twilight.
Emily Rae: Let's stick to the topic at hand. For the first question, we're going to go back to kindergarten. How do you feel about sharing?
WordPress: Sharing is an admirable quality in any person, animal, or blog. I am a huge admirer of professional sharing of opinions. I feature buttons that allow bloggers to tweet, Facebook, or share posts in many different ways. Inspiration and creativity ought to be shared, by nature.
Tumblr: I'm all about sharing. I make it super easy to like or reblog my posts. In fact, most of the people who hang out with me spend their time browsing around for cool posts to share with the world. You get to see so many pictures, poems, and videos of all walks of life. Some of them are serious and really beautiful, but a lot of them are hilarious! You can also send links to Facebook and Twitter or other sites, just like WordPress was saying. I get so excited when I check my Dashboard and see that someone has liked, reblogged, or left a comment on a post–“notes,” as I like to call them.
Emily Rae: Thanks, Tumblr, you led read into my next question. How do your Dashboards work?
WordPress: I try to make my Dashboard (as well as the rest of my site) as easy to navigate as possible. You can view site stats, post history, comments, what's hot on other blogs, and you can even post from the Dashboard. If it's still too difficult for you, I have an easy drop-down menu on the side and at the top of the page, which allows you to quickly find any aspect of the site you may be looking for.
Tumblr: My Dashboard is the most important part of me! As soon as you log in to your blog, you see all the most recent posts of everyone you follow. At the top, there are icons that let you post anything you want, whether it's a text post, a question, a picture, a video, a quote, or even a chat! On the side, you can view your past posts and the notes people have left on them, people who have followed you recently, messages you have in your ask box, posts you've saved as drafts, queues you may have lined up for future publication, a link to your own home page, and a link to customize your profile however you want!
Emily Rae: Wow, it sounds like both of you have some really great features! Tumblr, you've reminded me of another question I have: How are users able to customize their profiles?
WordPress: I have a variety of themes from which users are able to choose whichever works best for their desires for their blog. I have professional themes available for those whose purposes are more serious, as well as more fun themes that allow users to customize their profiles more. I want to make sure that I am easy to navigate! I don't like things to be too complicated.
Tumblr: Oh, you're so organized. I bet my themes are cooler than yours! I have ones that make it easy for people who want their blog to be primarily pictures, ones that work as personal blogs, and ones that work as professional blogs. Although, I'm like the least professional thing ever. I think professionalism is overrated. I'll leave that to WordPress.
Emily Rae: All right guys, final question: What other features do you have that make you special?
WordPress: I have a spell check feature that checks for so much more than just spelling. Other common mistakes, such as word usage, passive voice, cliches, etc. are all covered. I also make it easy to categorize posts so readers can find what they want as quickly as possible.
Tumblr: I make it super easy to communicate with other users! You can send messages through the ask box, you can ask questions and get answers–I even have a Chat feature, as I believe I mentioned before. You can get WAY more followers through me than through WordPress, and interact with them on a daily basis! It's awesome! I love people!
Emily Rae: It's great to hear both you express such enthusiasm about your different features. I've really enjoyed talking with both of you. We'll catch up soon–as soon as I finish writing this post and log back online, in fact!
WordPress: Great! It was lovely talking with you.
Tumblr: WOOOOOOOOOOOO I JUST GOT INTERVIEWED! EVERYONE LOOK AT ME! Maybe it'll get a zilliion reblogs and I'll be Tumblr-famous!
WordPress: That wouldn't work out because you're already Tumblr-famous. You ARE Tumblr.
Tumblr: Whatever.
Emily Rae: Oh, I almost forgot. WordPress, you said you wanted to save your comments until the end of this post. Do you have anything to add?
WordPress: OMG FIRST COMMENT.
Emily Rae Robles is something of a literary prodigy, and we’re so glad to have found her! Growing up her dream was to become a professional reader, not the more commonplace ballerina or veterinarian. Her parents often punished her by taking away her reading privileges back then. She credits CS Lewis and Chaim Potok for changing her view on literature and life. She can be reached via email or Twitter. You can also learn more about her by visiting her blog, The Paradoxymoron: www.emilyraerobles.wordpress.com