Blogspot vs. Tumblr
If you're on the verge of creating a new blog, you have a number of popular hosting platforms to choose from. Among the most popular options are Blogger -- once called Blogspot -- and Tumblr. Both platforms are free, allow you to create your own custom URL and offer the option of hosting advertising that may help you make money from your blog. But while some of the features are the same, the two platforms do have some distinct differences which could help swing your decision from one platform to another.
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Posting Interface
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If you're just getting started in the blogging world, you'll want a platform that serves your goals and allows you to post and share content with ease. While both Tumblr and Blogspot allow for posting all types of content, Tumblr's interface makes it a bit simpler to navigate. From the Tumblr dashboard, users can click the button that corresponds with the type of content they want to share -- videos, photos, text and more. In the Blogspot platform, meanwhile, users have just one type of post to choose from, from which they can add video, photos, text or other types of content. Both platforms accomplish the end goal of posting content -- Tumblr just makes it a bit easier to navigate.
Sharing
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Your goals for sharing content may be a big determining factor in whether to choose Blogspot or Tumblr. Tumblr's "About" page defines the platform's structure clearly: "Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything." Once you post something, there are "like" and "reblog" options for each post, making it easy for other users to share your posts on Facebook, on their own Tumblr blog and on any number of other social sites. Likewise, other people's posts that you "reblog" will automatically post to your own Tumblr blog. Blogspot's platform, meanwhile is focused solely on sharing your own content. On Blogger's "About Us" page, the goal of the platform is defined as "helping people have their own voice on the web" -- note that it doesn't say anything about sharing others' content. In order to share content in Blogspot, users must set up a Facebook "like" button -- or a share button for other social sites -- by manipulating the HTML code for their page, or make other customizations to allow sharing on other social sites.
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Customization
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Deciding between the two platforms may also come down to the user's level of coding expertise. Blogspot allows users to choose from a number of templates, allowing novice users to quickly get set up and on to blogging. While the platform allows users to customize features such as the header, background image and fonts, it does not allow users to tinker with the "back end" of the website to make drastic changes to the template. Tumblr also has themes to choose from, but for more advanced users also allows full customization of the CSS and HTML code. This provides a nearly endless number of options for manipulating the look of the blog.
Analytics
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If you're looking for a site that allows you to monitor traffic without the use of an outside service, Blogspot definitely has a decided advantage over Tumblr. Blogspot has an analytics feature built in to the blog, allowing users to track visitors, demographics, incoming links and other traffic. Doing this in Tumblr, meanwhile, requires users to load Google Analytics code or another third-party service into the blog's back end. This again serves to show the differences in skill level required by the two platforms; in this case Blogspot is more plug-and-play, while Tumblr requires some manipulation.
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