NPR Takes a Tumblr

Latest media brand to experiment with social blogging platform

This week, NPR became the latest media brand to open an official Tumblr account, joining the likes of Newsweek, New Yorker, Economist, John Mayer — even NPR’s own “Fresh Air” – on the social blogging platform.

And like everyone else on Tumblr, NPR is looking at it as an experiment.

“What can you expect to find on NPR’s Tumblr?” NPR’s Andy Carvin wrote in an introductory post. “Your guess is as good as mine. Given how Tumblr really excels at highlighting photos, quotes and the like, don’t be surprised if you see a lot of that here. Beyond that, we’ll have to see how the muse strikes us. (Gently, but with copious inspiration, I hope.) If you have any thoughts on the types of things you’d like to see us posting, please post a note and let us know.”

A quick whirl through NPR’s Tumblr shows snippets of content related to NPR’s on-air material (a photo of a monarch butterfly linking to a time-lapse video here, a quote from Gospel-soul singer Mavis Staples there).

And, as if to underscore the experimental nature of its Tumblr, NPR doesn’t even have its logo on the page yet.

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