Tumblr VS Blogger
A recent free blog hosting article on this site sparked a lot of discussion on a Google Plus board. Most of that discussion was centered around the move towards Blogger and Tumblr in lieu of WordPress. What's wrong with WordPress? WordPress is still home to most of the sites on the Internet, but many have found WordPress to be moving more and more away from blogging as of late.
So, if you find yourself wondering what else is out there, you'll likely come across Blogger and Tumblr. Which one should you use? Here's a comparison of the two sites to help make that blogging platform decision easier.
Tumblr VS Blogger: Tumblr
Tumblr (now owned by Yahoo – but, then again, what isn't?), is easy. That's the best way to describe this blogging platform. To post anything (video, infographic, text) on Tumblr, all you really have to do is select the content type and tap ‘publish.'
Some additional advantages of Tumblr include:
- Lots of themes
- A user-friendly interface
- A great control panel
- Mobile-friendly interface
- Email, SMS, or audio message publishing options
- No need to mess around with code
Some disadvantages include:
- An emphasis on imagery (this could go either way)
- Widely encouraged sharing may devalue content
- Not a ton of security features
Tumblr VS Blogger: Blogger
Blogger is owned by Google and was once called BlogSpot (and still is in some circles, though the cooler ‘Blogger' name has now taken over). Blogger has been around for a long time now, and it was one of the first blogging platforms. Blogger pretty much existed back when the term ‘blog' was only whispered in certain circles. Blogger doesn't get many updates, but it's still on the top of the blogging heap. Why?
Advantages
- You can make money using Blogger with Google's AdSense
- Ridiculously simple to use
- You can mess around with code if you really want to (though it's not necessary)
- All the stability that comes with an established platform
Disadvantages
- It's kind of tricky to set up your own domain name (unless someone has a way to do this that's simpler?)
- Very few customization options exist
- Where are the plugins?
- Not a huge selection of themes
Tumblr VS Blogger: Other Options
Are there any other options? Why, yes! There are! But, I've pretty much covered those in that formerly linked article, and there's the new Ghost option (which is going to be an excellent cheap hosting site for bloggers). Otherwise, this is pretty much what you're stuck with for now.
How do you choose? If you want a straight up blogging platform, Blogger is the simplest way to go. If you're thinking that you're more the visual type, you may want to check out Tumblr. Just to give you an idea of what types of blogs are connected to each site…
- Companies that use Tumblr include GQ, The Economist, and The Atlantic.
- Companies that call Blogger home include PostSecret and TwitterBlog.
Based on those stats, it might appear that Tumblr is more popular, but that's also because of Tumblr's recent heyday in the press with the whole Yahoo acquisition (plus, Tumblr blogs are pretty to look at). But, don't discount Blogger for a great way to get your thoughts out there. Blogger definitely has its merits too!
