Tumblr vs Wordpress

In the past several years, many social media platforms have emerged and are competing against each other for attention. Initially major blogging websites such as Blogger and Wordpress were the dominate players in the blogging arena. However, micro-blogging sites such as Tumblr, Twitter and Posterous have recently emerged and have gained popularity and usage among internet users. Today, I am will be going over differences between Tumblr a micro-blogging platform and Wordpress, a blogging platform.

Similarities

Tumblr and Wordpress shares many similarities that worth noting. First, both are free for the general blogger and both platforms can be customized with unique designs. Both platforms are Content Management Systems (CMS) that can be updated from anywhere in the world that has internet and both allows content to be imported and exported from other CMS-driven platforms such as Blogger. Furthermore, both are relatively easy to use and learn.

Differences

Platform:	Tumblr	Wordpress	Winner
General Difference	Given the fact that Tumblr is made for microblogging, the use of Tumblr will be different. Tumblr excels on a user posting a simple and quick blog post. Often the blog posts are 140 characters or shorter similar to twitter. In addition, most posts are without images or videos. However, Tumblr enables the posting of images as well as videos. Tumblr also allows you to follow blogs from other users like you would follow a person on Twitter. In addition it also allows you to like pictures and videos similar to what you could do on Facebook.	Wordpress allows for more traditional blogging. Through Wordpress you can have lots of different design and functionality options. In addition, you can also have your own domain name and server allowing you to have complete control and flexibility of the content. In addition, Wordpress offers an impressive range of themes and plugins allow you to truly customize and making your site as unique as you need it to be. In fact, you could also make Wordpress look like Tumblr.	Tie – Depends on your use
Control:	Tumblr is similar to Facebook in that anything uploaded to the platform are stored on their server. Thus giving you less control of your content.	Wordpress is a more robust CMS. It allows for your site to easy be expanded, allows for plugins, widgets, multipage navigation, provide database and management control. In addition the content can be hosted on your own server allowing for greater control of your content.	Wordpress
Usability	Tumblr offers a simple and user friendly interface enabling users to easily make quick posts. In addition, it actually guides you in posting other types of multimedia including pictures and videos. Furthermore, it functions well with existing mobile devices.	WordPress offers multimedia formats including pictures, audio and video. Not as socially integrated with other social media tools like the like function on Facebook or the follow function on Twitter. Can offer more content, but not as easy to use as tumblr.	Tumblr
Customization	Tumblr is limited to only one type of page layout.	Allows for many different types of layouts and supports widgets and plugins allowing further customization.	Wordpress
Social Integration	Tumbr is built for social integration. Your content can be integrated with Facebook and Twitter.	Wordpress does support integration with Facebook and Twitter, but additional plugins are required and there is the setup time required, while Tumblr requires zero setup time to be socially integrated with Facebook or Twitter	Tumblr
Access Levels	Tumblr offers one id and password	Wordpress offers many different levels of permission and allows for multiple authors.	Wordpress
Search	Tumblr is not optimized for its content to be searched	Wordpress is more optimized for its content to be found by current search engines.	Wordpress

From looking at the differences, it is clear the Wordpress does have a slight edge over Tumblr. However, if you were to pick one over the other, you really understand your intention are for your blog posts. If it is for simple blogging to be used by mobile devices, Tumblr should do the trick. If your blog is for potential commercialization and requires rich customization, Wordpress is the way to go.