Book Review + Giveaway: Tumblr For DummiesWhile I think I’m pretty savvy in most of the major social media and sharing platforms, Tumblr is the one that I have the least experience with. In fact, the majority of my experience with the blogging site involves reading the funny posts by the guy who texts with his dog. To me, Tumblr has pretty much just been a source of entertainment, and I never gave much thought into how I can use it for something more. With Tumblr for Dummies by Sue Jenkins, though, I’m learning that it’s actually a pretty cool platform and has more purposes than just posting funny stuff here and there.

Unlike most of the “For Dummies” books that I’ve read and reviewed, I actually had to start right from the beginning with Tumblr for Dummies. Usually I can skip account creation and what not, but I didn’t even know how to do that very well with Tumblr. I did discover that I started an account a while ago, but never really did anything with it because I really couldn’t figure out all the options. I’m used to self-hosted WordPress and that’s about it. The book walked me through all the set-up steps as well as how to customize your blog with themes and layout.

So far, that’s as far as I’ve gotten because I’ve been way to busy to get much further, with my brother’s wedding coming up next week. I’ve read the entire book though so I could get a feel of whether or not Tumblr is for me. It’s not terribly thick, so it’s an easy read. After getting you set up, Tumblr for Dummies walks you through the process of putting up your first post, reblogging other’s posts, and connecting with followers. Jenkins even takes you on a tour of the dashboard.

Once you’ve learned the basics of using Tumblr, Jenkins delves into the different third-party apps that you can use to enhance your Tumblr account, like auto-tweet features and what not. My favorite part of the book, though, was when she discussed  how you can enable Tumblr reblogging on a non-Tumblr blog. Watch for that feature to appear on Pretty Opinionated in the near future.

Connect with Sue Jenkins on her Tumblr blog, Lucky Chair, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win a copy of Tumblr for Dummies below. Giveaway is open to US residents and ends at 11:59 on Sept. 8th. Winner will be notified via email and has 48 hours to respond.

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Book Review + Giveaway: Tumblr For Dummies