How To Find Friends on Tumblr

April 10, 2012 | Filed underSocial Networks | Posted by Nelly

Before we begin you need to be clear of exactly what tumblr is and what they had in mind when creating it. The creator of this wonderful site is David Karp. The site basically allows you to post practically anything which includes images, text, videos, links, audio and quotes. You may “follow” other people who are also on tumblr (doesn’t it remind of a certain birdy site). It’s kind of like a mash up of social networks but at the same time it isn’t really a social network (it’s a blog site first). So approach it as a blog and how to find friends on tumblr will be easy as your ABC.

You Already Have A Tumblr Account Right

I will assume that you have a tumblr account, so we won’t be looking into that in this guide. With a blog you need to be your own PR and do some self-promotion cause let’s face it there are thousands of blogs up and no one will randomly land on yours. How to find friends on tumblr you will realize in the following paragraphs is no rocket science, you just need to relate well with people. No one will be associated with a headache and everyone loves a comedian.

Guide on How to Find Friends on Tumblr

First log into your account: Just type in your chosen username and password in the fields provided: see image below. Upon entering your details you should be able to see your dashboard where it will display blogs you are following as well as the other options at your disposal.

From within your dashboard, go to the add or remove tag that you will find in the top corner of your page. Here you will have a view of tabs that have the heading Spotlight, people you know of as well as the individuals you are following. In the Spotlight tab you have a directory which features blogs that have been highlighted; these are the ones tumblr refers to as your spotlight. There is some rather interesting blogs that you may follow (remember you have to follow to lead). Following is a good first step on how to make friends on tumblr.

The people at tumblr did a good job with the interface, as you will find the people you know tool right beside the spotlight tab. Use this people you know tab to find contacts from your gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo or MSN accounts. Key in your email address and password to have a look at your contacts. By using the Following_people tab you have the option of entering the username, users URL or the email address to limit your search to specific people that you have an affiliation with. Then simply click on the button written follow to follow them.

What to Expect From Your Tumblr Account, And How to Get Into the Community

Tumblr, (I cannot emphasize this point to much) is not Facebook. So don’t sign into Tumblr expecting to bring along your entourage of a thousand friends to the site. They were created differently for differing reasons. Hence the “don’t tell anyone about tumblr” chant among the community, Facebook is a social network and tumblr is more of a blog site. So do your social networking on Facebook and blog on tumblr and everything should go smoothly.

You should expect to receive asks when you have become comfortable with tumblr. This is one way of how to find friends on tumblr. Though you should be warned too many asks may be frustrating. Picture yourself scrolling down your blog and finding over a thousand ask, mostly from strangers….yah, that’s how the next person feels; so do unto others as you would want done unto you.

People will want to be your friend if you blog interesting material. Let’s face it blogging about harry potter is not cool and no one really in their right mind will reblog your post or be affiliated. So try to limit blogging about redundant stuff and clichés, keep it fresh and interesting and watch them come.

You will come across a lot of blogs that have been posted with background images which have no relation whatsoever with the subject matter of the blog, like for instance someone dedicating his undying love for his girlfriend with an image of sneakers in the background…quirky yes but that’s just how the people on tumblr are.

A tip on how to make friends on tumblr would be to avoid plagiarism, Yes I said it! Don’t take someone’s picture for instance and paste it on your pc and then upload it as yours…they found it on the net, if you like then reblog it using the reblog button found on the top right corner of the blog next to the heart. This way you get to blog it while giving credit to the person who found it. Don’t steal unless getting punched in the face is your definition of a good time.

Another tip on how to find friends on tumblr is to avoid any homophobic behavior. You don’t want to come off looking like a knob; quiet a large number of the people on it are either gay, lesbian or playing for both teams, upsetting people never gives of the right impression in any circle. It’s the 21^st century; if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything. Calling people hipster on tumblr is a no go as it consist of quite a lot of them. So when commenting or talking to someone refrain from the H word,.

Sarcasm is the order of the day on tumblr. So if you are a serious Sam or have a stick up…..(well you know what I want to say) my advice is loosen up. It’s a tribe of different people sharing videos, pictures and ideas. It’s meant to be fun and a wonderful experience, and this is not the boardroom (loosely translated as boredroom). So take it easy and have some fun and make friends.

So basically to make friends on tumblr you need to be open minded, be non-thieving and blog substance. Don’t waver from the above mentioned tips and you should be fine.

Additional Information

I think it’s safe to say you are probably new to the blogging community so you will need some tips to help you make your blogging lifestyle easier. I will give you extracts I had written on another article to help your transition to tumblr. (1) You can always buy followers, though personally I don’t recommend that. (2) Like stuff; the more stuff you like the better chance you have of being noticed. When you like more stuff the more blogs your tumblr blog name will appear in. (3) You should also reblog material; it has more or less the same effect as liking something but instead adds more interested eyes on your blog which will read your material as well. (4) A name is everything so you should spend time coming up with one; no one will spend time on a blog named “the tree” but they will stop on one named “the sweet fruit of life”. (5) Make sure you blog good content and add some images; no one wants to read an entire blog with no eye candy to look…no one.

Summary

Tumblr is a blog site, don’t you forget that
How you make friends on tumblr is solely dependent on how you interact with people
You need to ensure that you avoid name calling specifically calling people hipsters on the site
The number one rule turned cliché: to lead you have to follow: so the more blogs you follow the better chances of you drawing attention.