| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents need to know that this online hangout is hip and creative but too raunchy for tykes. Privacy can be guarded, but only through an awkward workaround given that the first profile a member creates is public and viewable by anyone on the Internet. Members desiring full privacy must create a second profile, which they can restrict to friends. (By contrast, a Facebook or MySpace profile can be locked by simply checking off a box.)
Kids can learn to express themselves and explore interests as part of a blogging community. Kids who prefer visual expression will enjoy creating posts supported by Tumblr's emphasis on less text and more media. With customization options, new bloggers can design a cool publishing space. But Tumblr provides only the barest of instructions and tools. Watch out: Without guidance, kids could get lost in a seemingly endless photo album.
Users create short blogs, or "tumblelogs," in the context of a social network. Tumblr is unique because of the wide variety of content users can post from their cell phones. Not only can they text and post photos, they can also offer up quotes, links, music, voice messages, and videos. It all shows up on a member's page along with a stream of posts from people they're following.
Though some might pick Tumblr over Facebook or MySpace, it doesn't really compete in that space. It's more of a cross between a blog and Twitter. Think of it as a superblog, a streaming scrapbook of text, photos, videos and audio clips. The lack of a commenting feature, the oldest blog tool in the world, is rather annoying. But the look is sleek and the features Tumblr does have are often inspired; take Radar, a site search tool that visually displays results as a collage of text and photo snippets. Tumblr promises good, naughty fun the under-30 crowd, but parents should think twice about letting minors join.
Families can discuss the wisdom of older teens joining a site like Tumblr, which seems to have been created largely by and for twenty-somethings. The content is by turns refreshing, juvenile, inscrutable, and sexually provocative, with female members matching the guys innuendo for innuendo. Note: Tumblr promotes heavy mobile posting so parents who still pay cell phone bills might need to monitor usage.
Kids can learn to express themselves and explore interests as part of a blogging community. Kids who prefer visual expression will enjoy creating posts supported by Tumblr's emphasis on less text and more media. With customization options, new bloggers can design a cool publishing space. But Tumblr provides only the barest of instructions and tools. Watch out: Without guidance, kids could get lost in a seemingly endless photo album.
Learning with Tumblr is self-directed and comes from publishing and viewing content in blogs. "Explore Tumblr" lists blogs devoted to a single concept such as film or politics. "Search" points to single posts, and the related blog may refer to other topics. Some social opportunities exist; kids can "like" or reblog other people's posts, but commenting is hit-or-miss depending on the blogger. Tumblr doesn't have its own comment tools, so bloggers who want that feature must integrate a third-party product that allows commenting.
| Genre: | Blogging |
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