How to: Use Tumblr in 5 Easy Steps

For those who want to share their joys and sorrows and life experiences with others, the micro-blogging way, we’re here to show you how:

1. Create an account

Go to the Tumblr website to sign up for an account. All you require is an email id, password and a Username. The username chosen will be displayed on the Tumblr dashboard, and is a part of your blog’s url as well. If you’re unhappy with the username you’ve chosen, you can always change it later, no worries!

To complete your profile, add an interesting profile picture so that people can identify who you are.

2. Setting up your blog

Decide what you want to blog about. Decide whether you want to post original content about your life, hobbies, causes you support etc. or simply curate interesting content for others to view. To personalize your blog and make it more interesting, you can select a pre-made free theme or alternatively, pay for a premium theme that allows for more customization. You can then go ahead and choose a background image, tagline, font etc.

3. Getting familiar with your dashboard

Tumblr's dashboard is really easy to navigate around. At the top, you have an option of viewing all posts or just those that you have created. When you follow other Tumblr users, you can view their posts on your dashboard. Each post has like and re-blog options at the top-right.

Next to your profile picture are 7 icons that will help you share content. Depending on the decision you make, you will be using these 7 types of posts:

• A Text post that allows you to add plain text as well as Images, hyperlinks, and videos.

• A Photo post allows you to upload an image accompanied by a brief description.

• A Quote post consists of the quote you want to post and acknowledgment of the source.

• A Link post allows you to provide a link to a website and a short description of the same.

• A Chat post allows you to post a small clip of conversation.

• An Audio post allows you to post a single .mp3 file every day.

• A Video post allows you to upload a video you want to share with your followers.

After making a new entry, you can choose to publish it on the spot or come back and publish it later by saving it as a draft or queuing it up. Look for these options on the right side of the dashboard.

4. Finding followers and interacting with other users

The people who have subscribed to your blog are your ‘followers’. By giving permission to sync with your Gmail, Twitter and Facebook accounts, you can connect with people from your friend list who use Tumblr.

The envelope icon on the top-right of you dashboard allows you to interact with other users privately. You can also enable the "Ask Me Anything" feature to allow open interaction with your followers about posts.

5. Discover interesting posts on Tumblr

In the Explore tab, you can view posts categorized by different interests — for example art, music, fashion, food, etc. Spotlight is another interesting Tumblr feature that displays outstanding blogs inside each tag.