Tumblr.comIt’s no secret that President Obama’s victory in 2008 was helped by his adoption of Twitter and other social media platforms. For 2012, Republicans and other politicians are flocking to these services too, hoping to spread the party gospel 140 characters at a time.
But politicians will need to join one more digital bandwagon for the 2012 presidential campaign: Tumblr, a popular microblogging site.
On Monday, President Obama’s presidential committee started a Tumblr account for his 2012 campaign, which will be housed on the Web site barackobama.tumblr.com
There are only two posts on the Tumblr page so far. One post shows a picture from inside the campaign’s Ohio offices. The other offers an introductory salutation, welcoming Mr. Obama’s campaign to Tumblr, and explaining what is in store for the Tumblr page.
“We’d like this Tumblr to be a huge collaborative storytelling effort — a place for people across the country to share what’s going on in our respective corners of it,” campaign officials wrote on the site. They touted one of the major benefits of Tumblr, the site’s submission feature, which allows people to share their own photos, videos and commentary.
Mr. Obama’s presidential team also warned readers that though social media sites were not always nice, they were prepared: “There will be trolls among you: this we know. We ask only that you remember that we’re people — fairly nice ones — and that your mother would want you to be polite.”
Tumblr has grown rapidly over the past year, quickly becoming an online home to celebrities like Lady Gaga and other popular musicians.
John Maloney, Tumblr’s president, said earlier this year that the service receives 8.4 billion page views each month and has grown to as many as 86 million visitors from around the world.