Everyone needs a Tumblr

Wednesday morning, Beyonce Knowles released a five-second teaser YouTube video previewing an announcement for her upcoming album with the promotion “#BeyHereNow,” exclusively leaked on her Tumblr.

 She leaked the video in the morning, and there were more than 3,000 notes (and counting) before entertainment media finally found out about it hours later. The same thing happened when she dropped her single sampler “Bow Down/I Been On” last month. In the midst of her personal photo diary, she reaches out to a niche of her fans that care about both her public and private life.

Artists are shifting to Tumblr for publicity stunts more and more, previewing their work to cater to a loyal community. Eventually, it goes viral. In a world that requires a little more than 140 characters, entertainment is adapting to the blogroll form.

Celebrities are all taking on their own URLs: Beyonce’s sister, Solange, Aziz Ansari, Vanessa Hudgens, James Franco, Neil Gaiman, Azealia Banks, Frank Ocean, Tegan and Sara and Big Boi, to name a few. For these types of viral promotions, Tumblr-goers are usually the first to know.

Tyler the Creator announced a free show in Colorado exclusively through Tumblr, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt fostered his pet project production company, Hit Record, which releases samples of music and films and published a series called “The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories.” Pixar has launched a promotional Tumblr blog for their upcoming project “Monsters University,” called “Grumblr.” And don’t even get me started on Kitty Pryde.

Even the newest Facebook timeline adaptation is a continuous scroll of a collage format — as if Mark Zuckerberg were nodding to Tumblr creator David Karp, saying, “Nice idea, there.”

The problem with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter is the social pressures entailed. People tend to “like” something because they want brownie points with a boyfriend/BFF/boss or “share” something because they’re a part of an organization, because sorority sisters told them to or, once again, for brownie points. Posts like these are unoriginal, uninspired and not individualized, unlike those on Tumblr.

When an image, link, video or whatever appears on your dashboard — the Tumblr equivalent of a “newsfeed” — what moves you to “reblog” it is completely yours to own. When you reblog, rarely do you know the face behind the post, so your incentive is completely divorced of those social influences and pressures. Furthermore, what you post goes into a community of often anonymous users, thus setting aside your inhibitions as to what you might have censored on Facebook or Twitter. When entertainment steers head-on into Tumblr, the blog server provides something the other social networks don’t — a user’s original and individual sense of discovery.

Not to mention, Tumblr is the most GIF-friendly platform in our Internet world.

A Tumblr is a blog without all the responsibilities of a blog. It is a place you can both confide your deepest indulgences or publicize your favorite entertainment sensation. If you want to start discovering, it only takes about five minutes to begin.

TUMBLR STARTER KIT

1. Sign into Tumblr with a short URL — as short as possible — and pick an eye-catching avatar with a simple theme.

2. Write a sentence about yourself or your mission. Keep it concise. No one reads them.

3. Follow 100 people, if not more. You can find blogs on the Tumblr Spotlight, find people through Facebook and Gmail or just discover users through “notes” on posts.

4. Personalize your dashboard. Follow some of the celebrities I listed and popular news sites or fashion blogs such as NPR, GQ, Vogue , TV shows, artists, comic book writers, Huffington Post, News, Tumblr Storyboard, The Guardian  and, of course, idsweekend.tumblr.com.

5. Discover.