What is the difference between a light blog and a microblog?

From the initial point, to push him, then to Sina Light blog, behind the eyeing Tencent. Seemingly just inadvertently, the light blog seems to ignite the whole Chinese internet enthusiasm. Although Tumblr has been around for a while now, for a long time, Tumblr is just a small bunch of toys, as many readers on my blog think, "Figure bed." Until the end of last year, Tumblr really into the mainstream eyes, until today.

I've always been a big fan of trying new things, whether it's Twitter or Tumblr. So each time, always can be very comfortable with a period of time these excellent products, and then helplessly watched them be cottage by the cottage, by the wall wall. At least as far as my memory is concerned, it is a great achievement to be at least 3 times the wall, or at least 3 times, before Tumblr is formally imitated at home.

What is Tumblr's charm? Before we solve this question, let's look at the history. And Tumblr's history begins with Twitter.

Twitter 140 words

Twitter appeared in 2006 and grew and grew in 2007 and 2008. Regardless of influence, the number of users, platform coverage, and so on in any way, far more than Tumblr. Twitter can be called Tumblr's predecessor. Microblogging and light Bo, this seems to be completely opposite of the two different platforms, but Tumblr has never really been affected by Twitter, but has always been in their footsteps forward.

Twitter-led microblogging has a very interesting setting: the number of words per message is strictly controlled within 140 words.

American Mobile text messages can be sent in 140 words each, so Twitter used this setting at first. Considering the user's acceptance and learning costs, such a setting was perfectly understandable at the time. But when Twitter gradually became a social media, the 140-word limit was somewhat troubling. Can't we just cancel the restriction? No matter what the 140-word limit is, and whether or not Twitter's founders have been thinking about it for so long, one thing is for sure, without the 140-word limit, Twitter will never be the way it is today.

The internet is becoming more and more impetuous, especially as the use of mobile Internet becomes more and more high. Mobile Internet users have a feature, that is, users are very fragmented use of time. This fragmentation of time leads directly to the user's difficulty in reading any slightly longer content. There is no doubt that the speed at which information is being delivered is becoming more and more rapid, and this is a trend that cannot be changed.

And the advent of Twitter is in tune with the trend of the times. 140 words is the best balance: when content is less than 140, it may not complete one thing, but when the content is more than 140 words, it causes the reader to lose patience. As a social media that covers all platforms, it is absolutely the most important thing to keep the information high-speed. From the first news that bin Laden was killed, it can be seen that the enormous value of Twitter is far from being fully uncovered. But anyway, this is Twitter now.

Twitter, as a social media, solves the need for more efficient access to information, but at the same time loses something in pursuit of this extreme speed. 140 words keep the information high, but it also leads to a significant reduction in the amount of data that is loaded.

140 words, this is Twitter's life light, Twitter's desire to fire, but also Twitter's Achilles heel.

Twitter and Tumblr

Although the large section of the article is not so adapted to the increasingly impetuous internet today, it is absolutely impossible to say that the internet has not been such a demand. It is clear that Twitter, while creating a new demand, cannot replace traditional needs.

Twitter's high speed messaging benefits are unquestionable, and can also bring two of obvious problems:

1, by the word limit, each push can carry a very limited amount of information

2, fast and a lot of information, it is easy to cause really useful information in a short time quickly submerged

In fact, this is the most difficult problem that all Twitter-like microblogs face. Even without the 140-word limit, another downside to the overload of information is that it's hard for users to find what's really interesting in the flow of information like the sea. Like me, even if I only focus on 100 supposedly, but the information is updated quickly, it is still difficult to capture the number of really interested information. The good news is that Twitter is still fast enough, and that the message that everyone is interested in is constantly being pushed around, even though it may not be what I want.

Twitter is the best message bearer, but not a good carrier of information.

So, Tumblr change came into being. His presence effectively solves the problems that have plagued Twitter:

Tumblr can publish any form of content, whether text, pictures, or music.

Tumblr rely on the interest of the user to organize content, information transmission way more flexible

In a sense, it can be said that what Tumblr can do is precisely what Twitter cannot achieve. So I have always thought that the appearance of Tumblr is actually an accident. If Twitter doesn't have the 140-word limit, if not the people who are always dissatisfied with Twitter, if ... Unfortunately, nothing in the world.

Light blogs, hobbies and interests

If Tumblr is just a new type of microblog that has removed the 140-word limit, it would be a bit unfair to him. As mentioned earlier, another problem with Twitter is that it takes a lot of effort to find information that interests you. Tumblr is here.

As far as I'm concerned, one of the big purposes of using Tumblr is that there's something I'm interested in, and I almost don't have to spend much time sifting through it, and then it's easy, like the Tumblr introduction in the previous article, to simply share them again.

After confirming this general direction, the rest of the matter is almost logical:

~ ~ ~ from text, to photo, and even quote, a clear classification of content, implying that the content of the user here without any restrictions

~ ~ ~ to establish explore, in the form of tag to display different content, so that users more easily find their own content of interest

~ ~ ~ Lower the threshold of forwarding, encourage users to forward their favorite content, essentially equivalent to manual audit

~ ~ ~ through more personalized settings, to attract users to constantly show themselves to publish more content

And more ...

Have to say, Dot dot net to his summary is very outstanding, here quote--discover interest, show ego. And that's what Tumblr brings, unlike Twitter, which is different from blogging.