I think most people are just predisposed to share. Tumblr lets you do this quite easily and intuitively. Not everybody gets it of course.
I think if I were to itemize the features that Tumblr does really well:
1. Feedback gratification. I can't think of any other way to describe it. The 'like' function lets you get instant feedback on what you shared, whether it's original content or reblogged content. The reblog function gives you even more gratification because it means what you posted was cool enough to be reposted. Works great for attention-hungry teens (or people in general.) This can get out of control when tumblrs decide they want to flame someone, multiple reblogs that escalate in online dickery sometimes ensues.
2. Tumblr not only lets you share content, it gives you things TO share through its ability to let you 'follow' other users and 'reblog' their content/posts.
3. The tumblr timeline is like twitter on crack. Imagine an endless scroll of content. Funny stuff, serious stuff, links, images, porn, name it. The dashboard gives an very easy way to reply to a post, like a post and/or reblog it. (when I reblog a post, I make it a point to 'like' it, for example)
4. On that, tumblr's got a pretty liberal policy on nudity, pornography, etc. I'm surprised porn sites have not jumped on this yet. The Suicide Girls, for example, have a tumblr, and their content gets reblogged a lot and consistently.
5. Tumblr's also got a generally cool attitude towards its users. No condescension, and their staff have their own tumblr blogs that are snarky and pretty funny.
6. Tumblr activities. This is something they've got over just about everyone except twitter. Tumblr users create activities (one pretty fun one is 'topless tuesdays, I'll let ya'll figure that one out.) that many tumblr bloggers participate in, creating massive amounts of content.
That's just a few of the things that have made tumblr fun. I'm basically on it all day, and have it set to send my posts to twitter. Great way to find content, share content, and just dick around online.
I think if I were to itemize the features that Tumblr does really well:
1. Feedback gratification. I can't think of any other way to describe it. The 'like' function lets you get instant feedback on what you shared, whether it's original content or reblogged content. The reblog function gives you even more gratification because it means what you posted was cool enough to be reposted. Works great for attention-hungry teens (or people in general.) This can get out of control when tumblrs decide they want to flame someone, multiple reblogs that escalate in online dickery sometimes ensues.
2. Tumblr not only lets you share content, it gives you things TO share through its ability to let you 'follow' other users and 'reblog' their content/posts.
3. The tumblr timeline is like twitter on crack. Imagine an endless scroll of content. Funny stuff, serious stuff, links, images, porn, name it. The dashboard gives an very easy way to reply to a post, like a post and/or reblog it. (when I reblog a post, I make it a point to 'like' it, for example)
4. On that, tumblr's got a pretty liberal policy on nudity, pornography, etc. I'm surprised porn sites have not jumped on this yet. The Suicide Girls, for example, have a tumblr, and their content gets reblogged a lot and consistently.
5. Tumblr's also got a generally cool attitude towards its users. No condescension, and their staff have their own tumblr blogs that are snarky and pretty funny.
6. Tumblr activities. This is something they've got over just about everyone except twitter. Tumblr users create activities (one pretty fun one is 'topless tuesdays, I'll let ya'll figure that one out.) that many tumblr bloggers participate in, creating massive amounts of content.
That's just a few of the things that have made tumblr fun. I'm basically on it all day, and have it set to send my posts to twitter. Great way to find content, share content, and just dick around online.