You know whose tumblr is good? Keith Gessen’s tumblr is good.
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No one ever says “so and so’s wordpress” or “so and so’s blogger” or “so and so’s typepad”—why is tumblr extended this courtesy? What he has is a blog. He even cops to it in with bold <title>s and <h1>s.
In some cases it has to do with the format; in most it’s a difference of approach and attitude. Similarly, you could (but shouldn’t) call a twitter feed a blog; or an epistolary a blog. C’mon Ben, you’re a professional working in the subtle distinction industry.
But in this case do any of these differences apply? It does, after all, call itself a blog.
My distinctions are the finest, and the finest of the finest is this, that we should distinguish between what the technology is most easily used for, indeed perhaps intended for, and how it is in a given case being used. If “a tumblr” means anything, it should mean not “anything published using tumblr’s platform” (regarding which I am sublimely ignorant) but rather “something that conforms to the type ideal of the tumblrish site”, which could, I assume, exist even on typepad, if you messed with the styling enough.
In some cases I don’t doubt it would be quite appropriate to call a twitter feed a blog: in fact I can easily imagine Robot Wisdom reincarnated as a twitter feed.
Actually, the finest distinction is between having the distinction, and employing it, and for that, no number of distinctions will help, you need judgment. Examples are, of course, the go-cart of judgment, and I say, daring you to defy me—just, just outright daring you—that Keith Gessen’s site hosted on tumblr is an example of a blog.