Bend&Brew

It is a done deal, Tumblr is now a part of Yahoo! I’ve spent the weekend migrating everything from Bend&Brew’s Tumblr home over to a self-hosted wordpress blog (which is what you’re looking at). As much as a pain in the ass as it was, I’m glad I did it.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think Tumblr is a fantastic community and I’ve gained a lot from it. But it is a stern reminder to anyone who publishes anything online: the more keys you hold, the less likely someone’s going to fuck you over in the long run. With Tumblr, you hold very few keys. As with most of the awesome things that exist online, their time passes and we’re left with not much. Now that Tumblr is wrapped up in a corporate structure, things will likely move a lot slower than they had before. But that’s hardly a reason why content creators should be worried.

Here is why Tumblrites should be worried about this acquisition (and the Missing E plugin is the least of it):

• Yahoo! is pretty awesome at screwing up everything. Flickr has needed some love for a while. Delicious has been kept in the dark for ages. Remember Geocities? Some Tumblr themes are already just as ugly. It’s only a matter of time…
• Remember a while back when everyone got all up in arms over the Facebook Terms of Service that basically said “you post it here, it is ours to do with what we’d like”? As a rebuttal, Tumblr said “Yeah, we don’t do that. What’s on here is yours and yours alone.” Well, the darling terms of the Tumblr community are definitely going to change with this acquisition. So, all those selfie’s and #GPOY photos? Those long, ranty posts about why you’re so pissed off at your parents/employer/significant others? Well, Yahoo! is probably going to stake some claim to those.
• Speaking of selfies – Hundred bucks has it that Yahoo! will give the boot to blogs of a pornographic nature. Tumblr already made moves to cut out hosting video of amateur couples, um, “being amateur.” It’s only a matter of time that sever crackdowns on the rest of the nekkid content happens.
• While Yahoo! has made  a lot of bad acquisitions in recent history, Tumblr is their largest (over a billion bucks!) and gives them access to a ton of content that they are going to try to monetize immediately. Banner ads, sponsored posts, pay-for-views, limited hosting (and a tiered plan for those that want to host more). My guess? It’ll get ugly in a hurry.

Of course, I’m curious to see what happens. I’ll keep my Tumblr on life support so I can get first glance at the updates. For today, I think this is a call for content creators on Tumblr to up their game and learn about new platforms and ways to show off their stuff. Moving to a new platform isn’t difficult, here’s a post about how to make the transition from Tumblr to WordPress/Blogger. It can cost you as little as 18$ a year.  Know what you’re doing and looking to make a switch? I do pretty much everything through name.com – totally local badasses.

I, like the millions of other users, are wary of what Yahoo! will do to Tumblr. For now, it’s an opportunity to see what else content creators can do.

Related articles

• Yahoo Buys Tumblr and Promises “Not to Screw it Up”
• Yahoo acquires finally Tumblr for more than one billion dollars
• Thoughts on Tumblr and Yahoo (in rebloggable form, upon reader request)

If you’re jumping ship at the announcement of Yahoo! buying Tumblr, here’s a few bits of advice on how to transition away from what once was a great platform:

Export from Tumblr. XML files are your friend.

You will first need to export all of your posts in a format that is friendly to other blog platforms. By and large, this is the .xml file format. To do so, use this online tool to conduct the export.  Keep that file in an easy-to-find spot.

Secure a domain, grab some hosting

I use name.com for all of my domain management, and now all of my hosting. Reasonable rates, stellar customer service. If you can’t figure out how to set things up through this blog post, they have the resources to help you as well.

Use the domain finder tool on their homepage and pick something up. If you check their Facebook page they usually have some kind of promocode running that you can use to get a few bucks off your purchase. For most, a single domain host will do you just fine. Or, you can set everything up super-easy by hitting the banner link below (totally affiliate).

Install WordPress

You can always go the wordpress.com route. Like Tumblr, you get a free slice of the net. Unlike tumblr, it limits you as to what you can install, post, etc. You can’t host ads through this platform and not all themes are available for use. But, if you just need a place to post stuff, it works just fine. If you do decide you want to extend your functionality, have a premium domain (one that doesn’t say yourdomain.wordpress.com after it), more bandwidth, etc they have a variety of pricing options. 

WordPress is also an open source platform that can be installed on any hosting service and used for free. Most admin panels for your hosting will have something called “Fantastico” or “Softalicious” or “one click wordpress install.” Boom. Done. You’re installed. Now login to your new site at yournewsite.com/wp-admin and get to work.

OR get set up on Blogger. 

For what it is, Blogger is a pretty impressive platform that offers quite a bit of functionality. At first, your domain will be yourdomain.blogspot.com. If you have purchased a domain from somewhere, you can follow the tutorial on how to set up your blog to have the premium domain. Blogger also has built in ad-serving capabilities – meaning you could make money from day one.

Import your Content to WordPress

If you’re self hosting, there is a built-in importer in the latest edition of WordPress. Find it on the left sidebar under “tools>import” and follow the directions. While you will need to create a new API, it is a very simple step-by-step process.

After you have completed it, it will import all of your content as “unpublished drafts.” This might be the time you regret reblogging those hundreds upon hundreds of posts, because they are each a new blog post. It may be worth your while to delete some of the fluff through Tumblr’s Mass Editor before starting this process.

Import into Blogger

Pretty simple: Settings>Other>Import Blog. Select the .XML file you downloaded earlier. Done.

Themes

Blogger has a catalog of themes (under Layout), so does WordPress (appearance>themes>install new theme). Many of them are free. A google search for either will take you to a world of selection that can be overwhelming and kind of expensive. My advice: start small, simple, build from there. The key here is your content.

What about all the content I got from reblogging stuff on Tumblr?

Here’s the great part about moving away from Tumblr – you already know what great content looks like, now you can create some of your own. There is nothing stopping you from grabbing images, videos, and blogs from Tumblr or Pinterest and using them as source material from the content your new blog is going to need. Think of this as a blessing – now you can up your game and go from being on Tumblr to being a really awesome blogger.

Still after a free blog that doesn’t care what you post about? 

Well, that’s the nature of the internet, isn’t it? LiveJournal might still be doing something, might still be able to get away with something over on MySpace. While the web seems like a democratic platform, the prettier sites always seem to win out. When it comes to community-based platforms (like Tumblr and WordPress), they can really only do so much before they have to prove they are a profitable business model. Ultimately, you get what you pay for.

Related articles

• Thoughts on Tumblr and Yahoo (in rebloggable form, upon reader request)
• WordPress Themes for Photographers – Striking – Photolux – Invictus
• Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A Complete Comparison