Putting Tumblr to work for you
11 comments Latest by quietorbit@gmail.com Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:27:37 GMT
I’ve been using Tumblr off and on since early April. I tend to neglect it because I’ve found the interface a bit clumsy. The recent redesign hasn’t improved on the things that I consider obstacles in getting things quickly added to my tumblr. Since the concept behind the tumblr is to quickly share things with people, the interface doesn’t facilitate this workflow as quickly as I think it could.
In any event, I tend to not login to my dashboard very often (few times a week?), which means that I don’t post as often as I’d like.
A few months ago, I finally started to use the Feeds feature in tumblr, which will automatically add things to your tumblr from an RSS feed.
The first feed that I started to use was my Flickr account.
Flickr to Tumblr
This solution for this was to tag photos that I want Tumblr to automatically with ‘to:tumblr’.
Next, you just need to grab the URL for the Flickr RSS feed for photos tagged with to:tumblr.
Next, you’ll want to add this feed to Tumblr.
Voila… in a little while, your photos tagged with to:tumblr will start to show up on your Tumblr.
Del.icio.us to Tumblr
Links to blog articles, web sites, etc… are things that I generally use Deli.cio.us for… so doing it once for each was taking too much. So, I’m now using the same tagging formula with Del.icio.us to get Tumblr to automatically add links to my Tumblr.
Now, I can use the RSS feed for items tagged with to:tumblr on my del.icio.us account with Tumblr.
Pretty simple. :-)
Google Reader to Tumblr
Another place that I find myself wanting to post to Tumblr is from within Google Reader. Well, it’s actually really easy to do this by taking advantage of the RSS feed that Google Reader provides for your Shared Items.
Just grab the RSS feed from here…
Then add this RSS feed to Tumblr like the examples above.
Putting Tumblr to work for You!
I’m hoping to continue using this pattern with other sites as well. I’d be interested in hearing how other people are using Tumblr to aggregate focused content in an easy to browse way.
Update
It appears that Tumblr currently only allows you to use five feeds to import. Until they upgrade this limit, you can use Yahoo! Pipes to do some of the heavy lifting.
Enjoying the content? Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed.
Thanks for a great idea, will be adding it to jaanix soon.
Why didn’t I think of this before?
John, that’s what I was thinking when I started doing it. ;-)
So umm, wheres the link to your tumblelog? :-)
@Dovergeek: I left that link out intentionally… but if you look closely… you’ll find it. ;-)
Do try the bookmarklet. It’s amazingly useful. Highlight text for a quote post, highlight nothing for a link post. It understands YouTube and Flickr pages as well.
Find it at Dashboard > Account > Extras
I just started include my shared google reader feed on my tumblelog this week. It has definately reduced some friction to posting on my tumblelog (the bookmarklet is also good at this).
Thanks, this is extremely useful.
Your explanation of how you use Tumblr is clear and easy to understand. After reading to official Tumblr site I would add two phrases (from their website):
[... To make a simple analogy: If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks. You can also look at tumblelogs as slightly more structured blogs that make it easier, faster, and more fun to post and share stuff you find or create. ...]
unfortunately, i can’t get this to work. tumblr is saying “not a valid feed”
Robby: I wanted to say Thank You for your post on RSS feed between Flickr and Tumblr. I greatly appreciate your help. Rock on, QO