There are lots of newcomers here these days, and I thought Iâd spell out how to begin and what it means to âcurate your own dashâ for folks who havenât grown along with Tumblr for the past decade.
If youâre coming from a platform where content is fed to you, Tumblr can seem barren and intimidating in the beginning. But thatâs actually a good thing! What it means is that you will see what you want to. If youâre in a fighting mood, go find political discourse. If youâre feeling fragile, make your dash nothing but art and nature.
Youâve made your blog and picked out your icon (seriously, choose an icon: otherwise youâre indistinguishable from bots). Feel free to be anonymous. Most of us are, and itâs wonderful to have a place thatâs not tied to your Real Life. Here you can be a fandom freak (like me!) and no one judges you and your boss will never find out.
Now seek out tags that interest you. For example, I was just looking through #moss because I like peace and green things and old-growth forests. (And, apparently, beautifully naked fae-men, heh.)
Now you follow that tag (if itâs a popular tag, itâll say how many followers the tag has, which is beneficial to know if youâre making a post that you want to reach all its interested audience) and posts with that tag automatically fill your dash. Voila, you have begun to curate your experience!
Do Follow: tags; blogs in that tag that you like; people who comment on posts in the blog/tag you follow that seem like theyâre up your alley. The more people you follow, the more varied and nuanced your dash is.
Donât Follow:  people who make comments or posts that raise your blood pressure. Topics that upset you. Discourse that has you arguing in your head for the rest of the day. PLEASE avoid toxicity. Real Life is hard enough.
How to be Social and Interact
If you want to find your tribe and interact, itâs best to start following individual blogs. (If you follow a blog, they have an opportunity to follow you back. Simply following a tag is a passive, one-way street.) To Tumbl is to be in a vast cocktail party, and you need to mingle and eavesdrop to find the things that galvanize you.
đŹComment on posts (please always stay positive and enthusiastic: we really try to avoid toxicity). You can read other comments (and reblogged comments) by clicking on the notes:
đReblog posts you like, both to show your support and to show other people what kind of things get you excited. Reblogging is essential to the tumblr ecosystem, because itâs the only way posts move around and get seen. You can also âlikeâ posts, but thatâs a much more passive way to interact. Also, reblogs and your own original posts show up on your blog and prove that youâre not a bot.
Create your own posts and remember that the first 20 tags you use are essential, because thatâs what gets you seen (and followed) by strangers. Tags 21-30 are good for searching and archiving on your own blog, but they donât count on the dash. Instructions on how to Make A Post.
Participate! Once you find your crowd, youâll discover that there are always things going on. For example, in fandoms, weâve got writing events, art events, crafting and cons. The more you try to be involved, the more new friends youâll discover. Tumblr allows for such an organic community. One person has a thought, and many others build on that thought, creating something far greater than the sum of its parts.
There is no real algorithm beyond using those first 20 tags. This may be discouraging to folks who are used to working an algorithm, but we like it fine here, because it keeps everyone real and keeps obnoxious social climbers/capitalists out of your face.
Be patient!  Just like in real life, when you find yourself in a crowd of people you donât know, it takes a while to form connections. Watch and listen, and learn to read the room. Honestly, the thing that will win you the most friends/followers is honest enthusiasm about your space.
Donât aim for the big names to become your new buddies. Youâre more likely to find a thriving coterie among other fresh faces. Donât assume that because theyâre small or new they have nothing to offer you. Often, this is the fire that keeps any given corner of Tumblr going.
NEVER REPOST (without explicit permission). Reposting is when you cut and paste from someone elseâs content and then make it into a brand new post under your own blog name. That is stealing and is very condemned. Reblogging is when you use đand the OP (original poster) remains attached to their post and continues to see and be in charge of interactions. Â
Reblog in addition to Liking. A post that you âlikeâ is static. You are not helping it to get to a broader audience. If the post or poster is something/someone you support, then REBLOG that sucker: it deserves to fly!
Reblog and add your own content. One of the best parts of Tumblr is that you can comment on a post, or even add to it in your reblog (as long as youâre not being a dick, okay? Or changing the topic, which is known as âhijacking a postâ). Here is a wonderful example of the Tumblr ecosystem at work, where someone had a thought, other people had thoughts about that thought, and then a bunch of artists jumped in. Tumblr posts BUILD COMMUNITY, and you can be a part of that conversation. (Do try to refrain from reblogging with vacuous comments just because you want people to notice you rather than because you actually have something to add, though. Thatâs just clutter.)
The most important part of âcurating your experienceâ is learning to Block.
You can block individual blogs, Anons, people in the comments that you find upsetting. Hereâs a post on How to Block.
Block entire tags or keywords if they are triggers for you. (Here is a post on how to do that.)Â
Blocking is self-care. It is not a platform to demonstrate to the community how much you hate someone and how they should, too. Usually the blocked person never even knows youâve blocked them. If they do something egregious (like tell you or someone else to kill themselves), then âReportâ them.
You can block something (like #US Politics) if you canât handle it at the moment, and then unblock it later. Block a friend if theyâre spamming something you donât like and then unblock them later. Itâs all good! You are in control of what shows up on your dash.
But doesnât this mean my dash will be single-topic and boring?
The simultaneous joy and pitfall in following individuals is that MANY blogs are not single-topic. You will be exposed to all kinds of reblogs/ideas/other people from the folks you chose to follow, and can decide for yourself if you (a) want to be involved in that topic, (b) are indifferent to that topic, or Š want to run from it screaming.
Also, the blogs you follow will move from hobby/theme/passion over time, and you can move with them, appreciate their new topic without vibing with it, or drop them altogether.
And THIS is how you curate your dash, my friends.
***Install New XKit extension. Itâll make your life easier!
***Hereâs the Tumblr Help Center, where you can learn more details.
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