Posterous vs. Tumblr

I have been spending time recently becoming familiar with Tumblr and I’m finding out that I really like it. It has easily become one of my favorite free blog hosting services. But Tumblr is far from being the only option available online. Today I would like to highlight another option that has become popular within the past year, Posterous.

What is Posterous?

Posterous is the dead simple way to put anything online using email. If you can use email, you can create your own website instantly. Simply compose an email using your preferred email service (i.e. Gmail, yahoo, AOL, etc.). Attach photos, music, videos or documents and send an email to post@posterous.com. The folks at Posterous will do all the rest for you!

Posterous includes a unique FREE service which will autopost your posted emails to all the other services you use, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr and much more.

It’s also great for group or family related blogs. You can add multiple contributors to a site by using their email address. Once the invites are sent, those users don’t have to register – they can email photos directly to your group blog.

Posterous is NOT a micro blog. There’s nothing micro about it! There are no limits to what you can post. There’s nothing Posterous can’t do.

You can try it now by emailing post@posterous.com without even setting up an account! How awesome is that!

My Posterous Review

Posterous is a great option for individuals and groups who want an easy to use interface for blogging. Although the available free Posterous themes are limited (compared to Tumblr), I’m optimistic about the growth and expansion of this feature. Below is a list of popular features you might be looking for with choosing a free blogging service.

• Documents – Emailing documents to Posterous is easy. Create and email and attach the file you would like to post. Posterous accepts doc, ppt, pdf, jpg, gif, png and much more! Posterous will host everything and publish it online immediately.
• Photos – You can attach one photo (of any size) and Posterous will resize to a web friendly and post it. If you attach more than one photo in the same message, they will automatically create a good looking image gallery.
• Music - Attach a mp3 and Posterous will drop your file into a web mp3 player so that your readers can listen to it right there in their web browsers.
• Video – This is one of the best features of Posterous. No more uploading videos! Email your video directly to Posterous and they will transcode your video so that you can see it in a flash player right there in your browser. It will even play on an iPhone without flash.
• Links - Any links emails to Posterous will be posted as direct links. If you post a link to a Youtube Video, Posterous will automatically turn it into a YouTube embedded player for your new post. As well as embed players for the following sites: YouTube, Google Video, Hulu, Funny Or Die, Omnisio, MixWit, Justin.TV, Fliggo, Vimeo, motionbox, TED Talks, Viddler, Dailymotion, Blip.tv, Revver, TeacherTube, GodTube, seesmic, and Brightcove.
• Autoposting - If you also have accounts on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or other networks – with Posterous you no longer need to post to them manually! Post to Posterous by email and we’ll update all the other communities you are a part of. Posterous supports Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, Movable Type, LiveJournal and Xanga.
• Privacy – Sure your site can be private, which is especially useful for family related websites/blogs. By using Posterous, you can set a password on your site so only the readers you want can see it. They don’t need to create an account to see your site, just enter the password you give them. You can also make a single post private by emailing it to private@posterous.com. We’ll send you back a secret URL to that post. (see more on privacy)
• Groups – Posterous can be used for group sites. You can add your friends or Family’s addresses to any Posterous site you control. Posterous groups are useful for families, sports teams, etc. to share photos and video. No registration required, no software to learn, no hoops to jump through.
• Tags – To tag and organize your posts, simply create them in the subject of your email, by using the syntax ((tag: apple, gadgets)).
• Bookmarklet - Posterous has a bookmarklet that is very intuitive. It automatically extracts photos, video, music, and text from the sites you are on. Get started and install it now.
• Custom Domain Names – If you have already registered a domain name (they are only $1.99 at RocketFireHosting.com) and would like to use Posterous for hosting your blog, it’s no problem with Posterous. Just set up the DNS and run with it. More info is here.
• Mobile Access – Just like many other free blogging services, Posteruos offers the ability to post on the go using their mobile service. Whether you have an iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, or Windows Mobile device, you have an internet enabled camera in the palm of your hand.
• Storage Space – With Posterous you get up to 1 GB of space for personal use, which is more than enough to get you started. However if you need more, you can always email them. However they will be rolling out more space and unlimited premium accounts in the months ahead.
• Google Analytics – Posterous offers a quick and easy Google Analytics integration in order to monitor who is viewing your website. They have 5 easy steps to get you started.

Posterous vs. Tumblr

Tumblr and Posterous are very similar free blog hosting services. They have many of the same overlapping features, but the two that stand out are:

1. The ability to email posts directly to your account.
2. Autoposting to various social networks. (Tumblr does offer something similar, but the list of supported sites is limited).

Posterous Themes and Customization

Now out of all the wonderful features I mentioned about Posterous, this is the one that is the most lacking, but I’m sure we will see a surge in free Posterous themes soon. I tried to Google “free Posterous themes” but wasn’t able to locate relevant results. In this case Tumblr is the clear winner. You can free Tumblr themes almost anywhere and more are being added to their Tumblr Theme Garden every week.

I plan on learning to make a few Posterous templates myself and adding them to my free templates section, but in the meantime you also get some from Obox-Designs. They were the only place I found that had quality Posterous Themes.

Posterous is FREE!

Like Tumblr, Posterous is a free service. Later, they will be adding premium features, but there will always be a useful free version you can use. In addition, Posterous is working hard to make their service better every single day. But if you need something that they don’t have yet? Just send them an email at help@posterous.com.

How to Delete a Posterous Account

This is probably the biggest downside of using Posterous. Posterous doesn’t make it easy for you to delete your account. They are currently working on adding a delete button inside you account, but until then feel free to email Vincent Chu directly vince [at] posterous [dot] com or help [at] posterous [dot] com and they’ll remove your account of it ASAP.

Whether you choose Posterous or Tumblr for your free blogging service I don’t think you will disappointed. I think both services has their pros and cons. However, not being able to remove an account always gives me an uneasy feeling, so I’m hoping this is resolved soon.

Happy Blogging!