All you Tumbl-rs out there probably already know the Tumblr lingo – and also that it’s a unique environment with a TON of memes, phrases, and habits that you’ll only find there. It isn’t for everyone, and some people can even find it offensive. But if your market is there and you’re game to Tumbl around with them, you’ll need to know the basic Tumblr terms to make it happen.

Microblogging

For starters, this is what Tumblr is for. Microblogging for SEO and marketing is a relatively new and bustling world, but users have been doing it for years. Think of it like the middle-ground between Facebook posting and WordPress blogging. Simple feeds, heavy on images, and lots (LOTS) of sharing.

Feed

This is basic, internet-wide verbiage for the stream your posts show up on.

Dashboard

Like any other site, this is where you can easily access feeds, settings, updates, etc.

Theme

A customizable graphical/background theme for your blog and dashboard.

Post

Posting is like any other blog but with a set of possible types: text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio, and video, all with different upload formats.

Blog/Reblog

This is the most important part of Tumblr – heck, it’s what makes Tumblr what it is and where that sharing volume comes in. People can post updates to their microblog feeds or “reblog” them from others and get them onto their feeds (or have their posts reblogged by others).

Reblog Actions

When reblogging, there’s a set of actions you can pick from a dropdown:

• Post now for immediate posting
• Add to queue to line up the post in order
• Schedule to set a post for a future time
• Save it as a draft to think it over
• Post privately, so others don’t see what you say on the reblog
• Preview the blog to see what your blog will look like after reblogging

Tag

Add keyword tags to a post/reblog to make it more search-friendly – this is a key practice in Tumblr sharing for social marketing.

Like

Just “like” most other social outlets, Tumblr users can simply “like” a post to support it and store it in a separate collection to look at again later.

Follow/Unfollow

These are increasingly common terms in social media, and it’s essentially the same here as everywhere else. Follow people to get their feeds to show up on your homepage, and unfollow them to remove them.

User Actions

Hovering over a poster’s screen name will show you a dropdown of actions:

• Ask a question for a quick inquiry
• Send fan mail for fancy styles/stationery to compliment someone
• Archive to view a thumbnail archive of all their posts
• Ignore them to remove them from your life!

Photo Reply

This is an enable able feature that allows users to reply to each other with images.

Notes

On a given post, this is the complete history, from the first poster to every like and reblog and comment – EVER.

Permalink

Each individual post has its own set URL for sharing and hosting purposes.

Got more Tumblr terms I missed? Share ’em in the comments!