Tumblr gets instant messaging on Android, iOS, and the Web

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not know that Yahoo! bought Tumblr in 2013.

The feature is in a slow release cycle, meaning it will be gradually made available to users, so Tumblr’s staff can update their infrastructure accordingly and make sure it can handle all the traffic.

The company predicted that the feature will be out to all users by early December.

To use the feature from the web, you’ll tap the chat bubble at the top right of your dashboard.

Tumblr: How does Tumblr instant messaging work? Messaging. Real, threaded, instant messaging.

From there, click the smiley icon to begin sending a message to anyone.

But if you can’t find this, keep calm and trust the Tumblr staff. They say this huge update will take a few time to reach everyone.

Oh, and instant messages can’t be anonymous.

In true fashion for Tumblr – the home of many viral sensations like “Texts From Hillary” and “If They Gunned Me Down, Which Picture Would They Use” – the update is being rolled out through a “viral launch”, the company said.

“Though if you’re feeling bashful, you can toggle the switch in your blog’s settings on the Web to only receive messages from Tumblrs that you follow”, Tumblr wrote in the support page of the site.

Sort of. It had an interblog messaging service called Fan Mail. Finally, Tumblr allows for messaging between users of the blogging and social networking site. The change will not affect users’ older Fan Mail messages, but any outgoing items in the future will have to be shifted over to the Messaging platform instead.

The company – rightfully so – doesn’t seem to think Tumblr messaging will replace Facebook Messenger or Snapchat for anyone.

Probably not. Facebook Messenger had more than 700 million monthly active users as of last summer, whereas Tumblr, which supposedly hosts over 261 million blogs but does not report monthly active users, is thought to be nowhere near as popular. By launching an instant messaging feature, Tumblr is simply trying to cater to its existing users who have long requested such a feature.