Can Tumblr help animal organizations looking to expand their social media reach beyond Facebook?

Originally founded as a blogging platform, Tumblr combines elements of both blogs and social networks. Users can include up to 10 photos in each post, and can also share videos, text posts, links, and audio files.

Unlike Facebook, conversations are not the norm on Tumblr blogs, most of which don't even have comments enabled.

The main way users interact with posts is by sharing, or "re-blogging," their posts, or by simply "liking" them. These actions are summarized as "notes" on the post.

While some users add their own commentary when they re-blog, these comments are primarily seen only by that user's personal followers. The lack of replies frees social media managers from having to do police duty in the comments section of their posts, while still letting people engage with the organization and comment on it to their own friends if they wish.

Another way in which Tumblr is different from Facebook is in who is using it.

"Tumblr's demographic is interesting for pet adoption," says social media consultant Christie Keith."66 percent of its visitors are under the age of 35, an increasingly important age group for shelters and rescue groups to target, as a study by Best Friends Animal Society found younger people are not considering adoption as readily as older people are. We need to reach this age group with our message and above all, with the photos and stories of our pets."

Tumblr is also growing — 74 percent in 2013, with approximately 300 million monthly visitors.

Perhaps more important than the age or even numbers of its users, what sets Tumblr apart is the passion with which they use the service. "While it lacks the sheer numbers of users Facebook and some other networks have, those who use it tend to spend hours on the site," said Keith. "And they identify as Tumblr users in a way that Facebook users don't, which means they'll be particularly happy to see organizations taking part in their world."

Source: businessinsider.com

The Shelter Pet Project, a public service campaign promoting shelter pet adoption, funded by the Ad Council, Maddie's Fund, and the Humane Society of the United States, recently expanded to Tumblr, and has already garnered over 33,000 followers, with dozens or hundreds of notes on each post.

Keith, who manages the Shelter Pet Project's social media, says, "Tumblr appreciates a much greater diversity of photo posts than Facebook. They like action shots, funny and silly shots, and photos sets that show a pet in a variety of poses and settings. It's a great opportunity to show off those pet photos that often get overlooked on Facebook."

Tumblr allows you to have multiple blogs, multiple admins on your blogs, and to customize the look of your blog with free and paid templates or full personalization with HTML. You can also open your blog to submissions from other users, enabling you to get great photos or stories about pet adoption, hold contests, and more.

Unlike Facebook, Tumblr does not restrict the number of your followers who will see your posts.

"Tumblr also has a well-developed and widely-used tagging system," said Keith. "You tag your posts with relevant keywords, and people check their favorite tags to see what people they don't follow are saying on the service. This is a great way to gain new followers and reach people who you're not already reaching. You can tag by location, topics, a celebrity who may have just adopted a pet — anything!"

To learn how to use Tumblr for your organization, visit Tumblr for Business.

Also of interest:

"How to Use Tumblr to Get Your Nonprofit Noticed by Donors," Chronicle of Philanthropy