For the Startup Spaces Series, Mashable got to scope out the spaces of some of the hottest startups around.

Unsurprisingly, the offices of these companies have just as much personality as the products themselves. Full of killer perks, like ping-pong tables, kegs of beer and endless snacks, startup founders know how to reward their hardworking (and often still small) team with some good old-fashioned relaxation. These tricked-out spaces also reflected much of their own website’s designs, including little visual homages to their logos and products in surprising and innovative ways.

Here’s a roundup of the companies we toured, including in-depth photo galleries. To read more and check out the photos, click through to the full story.

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1. DNA 11

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DNA 11 had humble beginnings. In 2005, founders Adrian Salamunovic and Nazim Ahmed started the business with $2,000 and an idea — using genetic science to create custom art. In 2009, the guys launched CanvasPop, a service that blows up your images — even low-res, smartphone shots — to full-on wall art.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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2. Yelp

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While user reviews site Yelp formally calls San Francisco home, the company is making a serious splash in New York City. Yelp opened a Manhattan office in 2008, but relocated to new digs in the city’s Union Square area late last year. Although the company currently has nearly 1,000 employees worldwide (and counting), the 70 staffers at the satellite NYC locale have embraced a more startup-like vibe in the small yet lively office.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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3. Vimeo

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It isn’t uncommon to watch the evolution of a company take place through the changes to its workplace.

That’s the case with the video sharing service Vimeo. Founded in 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klen, Vimeo now boasts more than 65 million visitors a month and a dedicated community of independent filmmakers and artists. To us, what has always made Vimeo different from other video sharing sites — such as YouTube — is the focus on quality, quirkiness and community.

On our tour of Vimeo’s offices in the IAC Building in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, we found that the community and quirky nature that is omnipresent on the site is also visible in the office itself.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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4. Foursquare

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Checking in to Foursquare HQ is so meta — and it’s really flippin’ awesome, too. The geolocation startup recently moved its HQ from New York’s Cooper Square to a ginormous space — two floors of 28,000 feet each — joining other startups Thrillist, ZocDoc and 10Gen at 568 Broadway.

It’s no surprise that Foursquare is growing — the platform has 15 million users and more than 1.5 billion check-ins, and Foursquare is seeing more than 5 million check-ins each day. To help fuel this growth, Foursquare’s team recently surpassed 100 people, who are split between New York and San Francisco. The New York office is home to 85 staffers, and it’s littered with references to badges, Foursquare swag (Snuggies, anyone?) and plenty of treats in “Fat Denny’s” cafeteria.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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5. Pinterest

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In an unmarked office building on a beautiful suburban street in downtown Palo Alto, the burgeoning startup Pinterest does its magic.

Considering all the addicting beauty and visual orgasmica on Pinterest, the company’s headquarters are in a surprisingly drab building. You’d think the up-and-coming social platform would want a giant sign that proudly proclaimed its name, given the company’s meteoric rise. Inside these humble digs, Pinterest staffers keep things fun with foosball breaks, Nerf darts and lots of Dr. Pepper. But don’t expect them to stay in one space so long — given Pinterest’s astounding growth, there’s a good chance the team will be expanding into a bigger and more (p)interesting space in the near future.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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6. Tumblr

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Step into Tumblr HQ and you’ll find the walls filled with artwork as colorful and quirky as your own Tumblr dashboard — because that’s where all of the artwork came from. Indeed, the company loves its microblogging community.

Tumblr has come a long way from its original office space five years ago. Though the company only moved four blocks from its first office on Park Avenue in October 2010, the team has exploded from two to more than 90 people. This exponential growth has supported the site’s expanding user base, which increased 900% — from 10 million users to 50 million users — in just the past year. In a Flatiron-area building, Tumblr occupies two floors, which rock completely different vibes. One is an airy, vibrant common area for meetings, lunch breaks and (most importantly) ping pong, and the other is a quiet, softly lit open floor-plan where all the work gets done. All of the meeting rooms have New York themed names — and yes, you will find a “Haters Gonna Hate” poster on the wall.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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7. Aviary

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Aviary’s New York City office lives up to the photo startup’s name. Tiny fake birds peek out from fake shrubbery and perch on top of pipes. Business cards, each with a different bird image, are posted on the fridge with magnets, and — in case you missed the theme — a giant bird mural takes up a prominent wall.

So why birds?

The startup’s original product was a suite of web-based creative tools, and the tagline “creation on the fly” was too good to pass up. Each tool in the suite is named for a different bird, and the ornithology theme is present is the HQ, too.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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8. GetGlue

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At GetGlue’s headquarters in New York City, it’s all about the stickers.

One of the most loved aspects of the entertainment check-in and recommendation service is the fact that users can get physical copies of the digital stickers they earn for checking into TV shows, movies, music albums or events. GetGlue’s office space near Union Square in New York City is adorned with super-sized versions of these stickers. The stickers adorn the walls, the elevator alcove and the office areas. For CEO and co-founder Alex Iskold, the stickers aren’t just a great way to decorate — they’re a constant reminder of the startup’s vision and purpose.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

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9. StumbleUpon

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StumbleUpon is all about discovery, and if you happen to stumble upon the company’s San Francisco headquarters, you’ll have plenty to see.

The tailored web-crawling platform currently has more than 20 million users performing more than 1.2 billion “Stumbles” per month. All that stumbling means the company needs a big team to keep things running smoothly. This growing team is based near Union Square in New York. Since StumbleUpon is all about uncovering great stuff from the Internet, all of the conference rooms in the building are named after great inventors — complete with tchotchkes related to the person’s discoveries. The Edison room, for instance, contains baskets of light bulbs, while the Pasteur room includes a working microscope with slides.

Read the full story here.

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BONUS: A Peek Inside Mashable HQ

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Mashable Meetings

Meetings at Mashable are rarely boring.

Click here to view this gallery.

What do you think of the offices at these startups? Let us know in the comments below.

More About: Aviary, canvaspop, features, foursquare, getglue, mashable, pinterest, Startup Spaces Series, stumbleupon, tumblr, Vimeo, yelp

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Just one month after Tumblr banned content that “actively promotes or glorifies self-injury or self-harm,” Pinterest has updated its terms of service to prevent users from pinning content of a similar nature. This is the second update Pinterest has made to its terms of service in the past week.

Pinterest now expressly forbids any content that “creates a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement or physical or mental illness to yourself, to any other person, or to any animal.” Content deemed racially or ethnically offensive, harassing, libelous, illegal, “inappropriate” to children or that tries to solicit personal user information, is also prohibited. To read the Terms of Service in full, click here.

Pinterest users have the media to thank for the update. Blogs including Jezebel have done much to spread awareness of pro-anorexia and “thinspiration” boards, where women with eating disorders exchange motivational images and tips for making themselves unhealthily thin.

Despite the update to its terms of service, Pinterest seems to have done little-to-nothing to edit out the pro-anorexia content. A search for one of the most popular related tags, “thinspo,” yields thousands of pins of thin, scantily clad women: some arguably healthy, others not (see above).

Reps from Pinterest could not be reached for comment.

Thumbnail courtesy iStockphoto MarsBars

More About: pinterest, pro-anorexia, thinspiration, trending, tumblr

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REYKJAVIK, Iceland — While visiting Iceland for an online marketing conference last week, I found myself in the president of Iceland’s living room, scratching my head at how welcoming and eager he was to talk about the country’s use of social media and technology to rebuild the nation.

The fact that Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson — who has been running the country for 16 years and just announced last week that he will be campaigning once again for re-election — invites strangers into his own home is not all that surprising, when you consider the way he runs the country.

Sure, it’s highly rare for someone in his position to open his door to people he doesn’t know, but this is precisely the way he approaches government in this tiny, snowy country in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Iceland is a society based on the principle that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise,” Grímsson tells me. “Unfortunately, most societies are going in the opposite direction, assuming that everyone is a potential threat. That is a dangerous route to take because you fundamentally destroy the democratic nature of human encounters. That’s not how we approach things in Iceland.”

The country is currently undergoing a resurgence since its economic meltdown in 2008. Iceland opted not to bail out the businesses that were partly responsible for the country’s crisis, and has since created a new constitution to move ahead.

I made my way to his home, a series of beautiful white buildings on the water outside the capitol of Reykjavik. The taxi driver mentioned he met Grímsson once at an art event. Not to mention, the founder of Nordiac eMarketing Kristján M. Hauksson — who ran the 2012 Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference — said he used to go to the same gym as the president. (Grímsson even gave the keynote at the conference the following day).

The president of Iceland’s accessibility is unique, as is his approach to embracing the Internet and modern technology to help boost the economy. In addition to the country’s quirky Tumblr blog (Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend), its Twitter account and its Facebook presence, Iceland has gone out of its way to spread awareness about the nation and increase tourism.

Its 2011 “Inspired by Iceland” campaign encouraged citizens to take travelers on tours throughout the country. Even the president participated, inviting tourists into his home for pancakes with whipped cream and rhubarb jam.

Overall, the Internet has played a big role in modern day Iceland. The government recently asked citizens to post online comments and feedback about what they thought of its new constitution proposal. And although the president actually said he wouldn’t be running for re-election earlier this year, he changed his mind after Icelanders gathered thousands of signatures online as a part of an effort to keep him in office.

But this begs the question: Is all of this possible because the country only boasts 300,000 residents, or could this let’s-all-work-together mantra work elsewhere?

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Government Accessibility

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“To some extent, the size of Iceland allows this happen,” says Grímsson, leaning back in his chair. “However, there are smaller communities in bigger countries that can look at Iceland as a model.”

Although some believe the president’s accessibility could be a risk to his safety, he says it’s a far greater risk not to build trust and relationships with his people.

“Many say that there should be more barriers up for a president when interacting with citizens and that they could even get killed, but this contradicts the way we want to live our lives,” he says. “There is a risk to giving a teenager a driver’s license, but we accept that risk and let them drive anyway.”

Iceland’s progressiveness in embracing modern technology is astounding. In fact, Iceland’s 2011 Constitutional Council crowdsourced its constitution, turning to social media sites to make the process transparent and to collect input from the public.

SEE ALSO: Iceland Unveils Crowdsourced Constitution

“In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we realized that this wasn’t just an economic or a financial crisis; it was also a social, political and judicial crisis,” says Grímsson. “If we were going to allow the nation to regain its strength and position, it wouldn’t be sufficient to deal with it in traditional economic and financial ways. We needed a different democratic approach.”

A draft of the document was posted online, where it encouraged recommendations and comments from citizens to amend it. “You can look at it as an innovative thing, in terms of modern technology, but it’s actually just a modern expression on an old Icelandic tradition,” says Grímsson.

After the country was first settled by the Vikings, residents set up a parliament, an open assembly and open courts. It was based on rule of law and not on executive power.

“The tradition of conducting everything in a way that everybody could follow and have access to it was an early part of our history,” says Grimsson. “It has become a big part of the identity of Iceland.”

“Since Iceland is a small society, transparency here probably has a different meaning than larger societies where a bureaucratic state is in place,” says Grímsson. “It’s never been the case in Iceland. But like many other countries right now, we have a lot of activism created with the help of the Internet and social media.”

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The Power of the Internet

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When Grímsson announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election in 2012 — which could make him the longest serving president in the country’s history — Iceland’s residents started an online petition, urging him to stay in office.

“I decided not to serve more in the presidency, and thought I could be useful doing other things,” says Grímsson. “However, a lot of people wanted me to continue, and didn’t want to open the presidency up during a time of uncertainty.”

He agreed to run again under the condition that once the uncertainties regarding the economy and other matters were more resolved, he would reserve the right not to serve the full term.

“It goes to show that you can get so much accomplished with the help of the Internet at a much faster rate than ever before,” adds Grímsson.

As for how he plans to approach the campaign, he’s still weighing his options.

“There is this danger that if you become too fascinated by technologies and communicating with people digitally, it lessens the personal encounters,” says Grímsson. “There is also a risk that technology could become the main field of communication, and that could also impact transparency and trust. I wouldn’t want that to happen in Iceland.”

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Inspired by Iceland

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The country has been embracing the Internet to boost tourism, and it seems to be working. Hauksson of Nordiac eMarketing says that Iceland has experienced a nearly 20% increase in tourism in 2011. The campaigns have certainly helped, but public awareness also increased when the world learned of Iceland’s economic crisis and its recent volcano eruption. In addition, airlines such as EasyJet have expressed interest in flying to Iceland.

By logging on to InspiredbyIceland.com, tourists can sign up for free tours, meet local residents and, of course, even visit the president’s house.

Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

“By participating in the campaign, it carried out the message that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise, and that we can all work together to spread awareness,” says Grímsson. “It was very successful and promoted Iceland without huge costs.”

Grímsson noted that technology is having a greater impact on politics in both small and large communities. “What could have taken months to accomplish is now possible in just hours, thanks to mobile phones and the Internet.”

He also referenced one of President Obama’s speeches in Washington D.C. Amazingly, a crowd in Cairo, Egypt turned down Obama’s initiative via tweets and online messages even before he had finished speaking.

“Technology is becoming a side show to whatever is happening — it’s giving people the opportunity to be active and influential almost immediately,” Grímsson says.

Do you think Iceland’s tech efforts can work in other countries? Can nations learn from its model? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 221A

More About: crowdsourcing, Facebook, features, Social Media, tumblr, Twitter

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The New York Times has added a whimsical new tentacle to its digital and social reach with a Tumblr blog dedicated to photographs from the Gray Lady’s storied past.

The Lively Morgue, as the new Tumblr is called, launched Monday with a black and white photo of news images being sorted in the paper’s physical photo “morgue,” where millions of pictures are stored in filing cabinets and manila folders.

A post to the Times‘ on-site Lens photo blog introducing The Lively Morgue said the project was “many months” in the making. Which archival images will cross the border from physical photo morgue to online immortality?

“There is little rhyme or reason to our selection, other than the obvious: We’ve chosen images that delight us,” reads the introductory post on Lens.

Images added so far include a close-up of Yankees catcher Yogi Berra’s gnarled hands, shot in 1965 (see thumbnail); a policeman, nightstick in hand, watching his beat after a recent nearby double homicide in 1959; and a pair of Philadelphia police officers proudly showing off a captured liquor-smuggling mannequin in Prohibition-era 1930.

The Lively Morgue also features an option to buy prints for $169, as well as another very cool twist: images of the marked-up reverse side of each physical photo. The reverse sides of the photos are home to a photo-nerd bonanza of information, including how much freelancers were paid for shots, published captions and photos’ sequence numbers.

But don’t think you’ll be able to see anywhere close to the majority of the Times‘ collection of old photos. According to the introductory post on Lens, the paper could publish 10 archival images each day and still possibly have more to spare by the year 3935.

The Times launched its first Tumblr blog, which covers the paper’s style and culture focused T Magazine, last April.

Will you follow The Lively Morgue on Tumblr? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of The Lively Morgue

More About: Media, the new york times, trending, tumblr

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Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of Resunate.com, the world’s only resume builder to score and tailor your resume for every job. You can find Mona and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter.

Social networking for career enrichment is on the rise. With online networking, you have access to more professionals — and will inevitably make faster connections — as your connections expand throughout your industry.

Online networking also gives you the opportunity to put your personal brand on display — a type of communication that may feel like bragging in face-to-face meetings. We’ve all heard of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and how to use these platforms to find a job, but it’s time to look beyond “the usual suspects.”

What other networking websites might be beneficial for your professional life? Here’s a roundup of 20 unsung Internet resources that could help you land your dream job. Some are general and others pertain to certain industries, but all are valuable options to boost your social networking (and your career prospects).

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Niche Social Websites with Networking Potential

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1. Elixio

Elixio is a private online community for professionals. This site is invite-only, but you can be sure if you get an invite, you will have the chance to make awesome connections. Because it’s a community of less than 14,000 (mostly business) professionals, Elixio hosts networking opportunities for the cream of the crop.

2. Stroome

Stroome is the foremost online video collaboration hub. Launched in April 2010, the site connects journalists, filmmakers, travelers and anyone else with a video camera — allowing them to upload their films to the Internet and then collaborate with other users to create new video, audio, and photo mashups from all corners of the world.

3. Ryze

Ryze is an online business network founded in 2001 and now operating with 80,000 members. You can make a free networking-oriented homepage and connect with professionals (or re-connect with old contacts). The site, which initially focused on the high-tech community, now appeals to CEOs, entrepreneurs and home-based businesses.

4. Ning

Ning’s industry connections span many categories, including politics, entertainment, consumer brands, small business, non-profits, education and more. It connects more than 74 million people around the globe with the topics they are passionate about, making it a great foundation for professional networking. You can use Ning to create and design your own free social network. For instance, there’s a social community for the band Linkin Park, the Peace Corps and Classroom 2.0.

5. Quora

Quora connects you to everything you want to know about, and gives you leverage to interact with high influencers in any industry. You can create your own profile, share content and ask questions. Also, the site itself is organized by people and their interests, so you can easily find like-minded individuals. One way you can think of it is as a cache for research: When you see a link to a question page on Quora, you can feel good that it will have information you need.

6. Ecademy

Ecademy is a membership organization aimed at business professionals.The site boasts an online network, blog and boardrooms for collaboration over the Internet. It’s for entrepreneurs and business owners who want to belong to a community that connects, supports and collaborates with each other to produce new ideas. Those who want to take a more passive approach to networking, however, may find less use for it.

7. Ziggs

Ziggs is a site that will allow you to create and manage your personal brand. You can also join groups and make contacts on the network. Ziggs is for the Internet user who proactively wants to market himself on the web — to be discovered by recruiters, to find a better job or just to be found. The platform is also for folks who want to develop or participate in private online communities with colleagues, friends, club members or charity teams.

8. Tweako

According to its website, Tweako is a “user-powered community website and social network, specializing in all aspects of computing, technology and the Internet.” Tweako.com is a place to learn and share information and knowledge about computer and technology topics. For those interested in keeping a pulse on cutting-edge technology and IT concepts, Tweako also keeps tabs on startups and company business to see who’s hot in the field — a great resource for those looking to get job leads.

9. Your Personal Blog

While a personal blog will be a networking opportunity on its own, you can use the blog to get your name out there. Post your blog’s URL when you comment on industry articles and share it with people on your networking profiles. You never know — someone might like what they see on your blog and start up a conversation that could be beneficial to your career or job search. There are many options available for creating a blog, but you can create a free one easily on WordPress.

10. Tumblr

Tumblr has several advantages over other blogging options for building your brand. If you are a recent graduate or in the younger job-seeking demographic, you’ll benefit from Tumblr’s youthful user base. Plus, you’ll find a breadth of business blogs that are hosted on the platform that can easily be followed, helping you stay knowledgeable about brands you might want to work for. However, while Tumblr will allow you to quickly and easily share your personal brand, the site doesn’t offer as many features or formatting options as other blogging platforms.

11. Brazen Careerist

This site was created for college students and young professionals to “meet new people, find a job and build relevant relationships” to advance their careers. A smart option for those entering the market for the first time, Brazen Careerist also offers a connection to Facebook — an easy way to see who in your current circle of friends is also using the service.

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Communities Categorized by Industry and Interest

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If you’re interested in a particular industry, you can find a hub in which you can meet like-minded individuals. Here are some examples:

• Academics: Academia.edu
• Activism and Environmentalism: Care2
• Art: deviantArt
• Human Resources: HR.com
• IT/Computers: Talentopoly
• Law: Legal OnRamp
• Music: ReverbNation.com
• Politics/Government: GovLoop
• Science: Epernicus & ResearchGate
• Writing: Writing.com

Do you have a favorite networking website that’s not listed? Share it in the comments below.

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Social Media Job Listings

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Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

• Senior Web Developer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
• Social Media Metrics Specialist at Imagination in Chicago
• Product Manager – Local Business Products at Yelp in San Francisco

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl

More About: Brazen Careerist, care2, DeviantArt, job search series, jobs, multiply, professional networking, tumblr, Ziggs

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

With the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr’s astounding growth, it seems that 2012 may be the year of the visual platform. Tumblr surpassed 15 billion monthly pageviews in January, and Pinterest is driving some serious traffic to retailers. We’ve already covered some best practices for brands on Pinterest, but if you’re looking to mix up your content creation, try Tumblr. To date, there have been 16,827,658,845 posts on the site, so isn’t it time you get it on the action?

As with any other platform, there are pros and cons to consider. But with the popularity of Tumblr and the ease of setting up, customizing and maintaining your blog, we suggest you at least check it out — there’s a very engaged Tumblr audience waiting to see your content. Here are some tips to help you get started.

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Set Up Your Tumblr

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Pick a password and designate a URL for your Tumblr — the URL will be www.anything.tumblr.com. You can’t host the blog on your website’s domain, but you can set up a custom domain so it matches your website (such as mashable.com/blog), place a button on your site or even link out from your site’s navigation to make it seamless for your users to consume your Tumblr content.

Then, customize your blog. Pick a theme, choose colors, pick a font, upload a header and a profile picture and write a little “about me” section. There are some great themes for small business, and the Mashable team recently pointed out our favorite themes, too. You can choose more of a collage layout if you’re going for a Pinterest-y, image-heavy look, or you can opt for a linear, news-feed layout.

Getting all that set up shouldn’t have taken you too long. Now, let’s start tumbling!

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What to Post

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“Blogging” no longer evokes a visual of someone sitting in a coffee shop writing about life all day. With the 140-character limit on Twitter, we’ve lost our attention span for 1,000-word musings. We want simple, palatable content in many different forms. Tumblr has helped to redefine what it means to blog and has made it infinitely easier and faster to do so. Visuals do particularly well on Tumblr, but there’s more to the site than pictures. On your dashboard, you’ll see seven options — text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video. Here are some great uses of each kind of post:

• Text: Explain rules for your upcoming content or make an announcement.
• Photo: A product image, a picture of your team, a picture of a celebrity wearing or using your product, a dish at your restaurant, a profile of a new team member. You can upload multiple pics, which is great for an event recap or even product shots — use a wide shot and a close-up, for instance.
• Quote: A one-liner that your fans just need to hear.
• Link: Saw something on the web that you just have to share? Link out to it.
• Chat: Did you have a funny exchange with a customer? Recount it here.
• Audio: Post the jam that has everyone in the office grooving, or maybe a song that mentions your line of work.
• Video: Did you shoot a cool sizzle reel? Post it on Tumblr!

To make a post, just click the icon of the media type you’d like to post. From there, it’s pretty simple — upload the picture (or video or audio) and fill out all of the fields. Be sure to tag the post with relevant terms, since searching through tags is a great way for people to discover your content. You can publish the post now or schedule it for later. The latter is a great option for time-strapped entrepreneurs — you can set aside some time each week to hammer out a few posts and then space them out over time to keep your page active, while you’re out doing other things, like running your business. Click the box to send the post to Twitter, to allow for easy distribution.

Much like Pinterest, you should go beyond just trying to push your product on Tumblr — try to embody a lifestyle. Sure, you can post product pictures, but don’t be so pushy; instead, be human. If you have a clothing company that just got samples in, show how excited you are and make your Tumblr audience feel special by giving them a first look — try posting something like, “Just got first samples of our new product line! Take a peek!” with some pictures. You can also post about your brand’s history (i.e. where’d your slogan come from? Who designed the logo? Who’s the person answering customer service calls?), along with anecdotes about customer interactions and pictures of office celebrations to give people a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Now more than ever, people want to know from whom they’re buying products, so Tumblr is a great way to let them see how great your company is. This helps build loyalty — and your bottom line.

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What Now?

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You’re all set up, and you’ve rattled off a few posts. Are you worried it’ll be tough to maintain your business’ Tumblr? Use the mobile app (see above) for easy blogging. You can even text your update from an SMS phone or update your Tumblr via email — just email your custom Tumblr email address (hint: it’s an @tumblr.com email address, not your login). If you’re an Instagram user, you can also set up the photo-sharing app to send your stylized images to Tumblr, which can add some flair to your blog and help you kill two birds with one stone, by updating two platforms in one simple move.

As you get in the flow of things, you should start seeing an influx of followers and activity. When you log on to your dashboard, you’ll see the river of content you’ve created, along with notes about who liked or reblogged a post and who started following your Tumblr. Give them a follow back, and then you’ll start seeing their posts when you log in — comment, like and reblog to engage with the audience and build relationships.

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Where to Look For Inspiration

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A new undertaking can be daunting, so we’ve gathered up some great small business Tumblrs and explained a bit about what makes these blogs special. Hopefully they’ll inspire you to blog even more.

• Alternative Apparel: Alternative Apparel’s theme is decidedly Pinterest-y — the clothing brand focuses highly on visuals, highlighting celebrities and everyday Joes enjoying life in the brand’s cozy apparel. Clicking on a picture pulls up a caption and product details.
• Foodspotting: Dish-sharing app Foodspotting has Spotted, which highlights dishes for various holidays and occasions, like Chinese New Year. The blog also includes recaps of Foodspotting events, such as the #DimSumDemolition and the Dumpling Waddle in New York. If you’re hungry, it’s probably dangerous to look at the blog, and even if you’re not hungry, you’ll still want to eat these dishes. Thus, the Tumblr serves as a way to remind you that it’s fun to take pictures of your food, which is precisely what the Foodspotting app lets you do.
• Instagram: As you (now) know, you can push your Instagram photos straight to Tumblr, so it’s not surprising that Instagram uses Tumblr to help spread its gospel. Like Foodspotting’s Spotted blog, the Instagram Tumblr motivates people to use the app. Its Weekend Hashtag Project encourages users to take pictures that exemplify a pre-determined hashtag, like #SoloParking. Favorites are then shared on the Tumblr, with kudos for the photogs who took each shot. Then there’s “How I Shoot,” a series in which Instagrammers share tips for taking excellent pictures. There are also tips and best practices throughout the Tumblr in case you’re looking to step up your Instagram game.
• Lure Fishbar: The Soho eatery posts drool-worthy food porn, like king crab rolls and the sushi bar special. Then, there are plenty of sultry ambient shots of the restaurant to entice chic eaters into the venue, along with pics of the chef with New York celebs, like Carmelo Anthony.
• Warby Parker: The blog, Zagg Pepper, takes a clean approach — there’s a simple layout, a white background and a commitment to post “musings, inspirations and fun stuff.” Though the brand purveys glasses, the blog highlights all things intellectual, artsy and stimulating, since the brand’s bespectacled devotees are often into that sort of thing.
• Ace Hotel: The Ace is a boutique hotel that embodies a cool, high-end lifestyle, with locations in New York, Portland, Seattle and Palm Springs. The Ace Hotel blog boasts pictures of the properties, Ace-branded apparel and pictures of local art exhibits, in addition to promoting local shops and bands.
• Mashable: Of course, as a site that covers social media, Mashable makes good use of the platforms that are out there, including Tumblr. The Mashable Tumblr, MashableHQ.com, is a peek behind the scenes at our New York City headquarters. You’ll find pictures of our office dogs and founder Pete Cashmore on a scooter. But there’s also some more substantive information, like updates from our Social Good Summit and Mashable Connect.

Here, we’ve covered the nuts and bolts of Tumblr. Below, you’ll find some tips to get your business even more exposure, and check out Mashable‘s guide for building your brand on Tumblr.

Does your business have a Tumblr? If not, are you inspired to start one now? Let us know in the comments below.

1. Use Tumblr Curation as a Compliment to Original Content

The short-form, fast-paced nature of Tumblr lends itself well to content curation. The platform is optimized for creating collections of bite-sized media.

With the click of a button (the “reblog” button to be precise), you can instantly post someone else’s Tumblr content on your own. Businesses can leverage this to create their own curated resource for all of the interesting things they observe in their niche.

Of course, curation works best when accompanied by original content, or when a slant or opinion is appended to the curated work. This is why many businesses choose to use Tumblr as a supplement to a longer form WordPress or Typepad blog on their own domain as part of a stock and flow content strategy.

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More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum:

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- Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips
- How Klout Found Success By Focusing On Users
- Email Newsletters: Best Practices For Small Businesses

More About: blogging, open forum, Small Business, trending, tumblr

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Tumblr may have lost a fashion director, but it has now gained an editor-in-chief.

The blogging platform told The New York Times Thursday it brought on Chris Mohney, formerly Senior Vice President of content at BlackBook Media, to serve in the newly created role of editor-in-chief.

Mohney will be joined by executive editor Jessica Bennett, formerly a senior writer editor at Newsweek/The Daily Beast.

The pair will work to cover the “ideas, themes and people” of Tumblr, says Bennett, making that content available on Tumblr’s staff blog and a new area of the site that isn’t up yet. We expect their coverage will function much like Etsy’s blog or Twitter Stories, which highlights trends and users in the community.

The timing of the hires makes sense given that Tumblr is moving away from a vertical content structure (i.e. having separate content directors for fashion and film) to a more horizontal one.

Tumblr VP Andrew McLaughlin told The Times that he wants Mohney and Bennett to do “real journalism and analysis, not PR fluff.” He added that it is “obviously is [Tumblr's] self-interest as a company to surface more compelling stories about creators on Tumblr; at the same time, though, we think Chris and Jessica will be able to do so in ways that embody professional rigor and first-rate writing.”

More About: chris mohney, jessica bennett, tumblr

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1.

An AbuDhabi highway shot by Liam Goslett, a 19-year-old photographer from Toronto whose Tumblr blog is called Liam Saw This.

Click here to view this gallery.

Instagram and Tumblr photographers frequently turn everyday occurrences into beautiful digital images. So what would happen if you unleashed them upon one of the world’s most epic events — for example, the so-called “Everest of Sailing?”

That’s exactly what the sportswear company Puma did last month when it transported 10 bloggers to Abu Dhabi to cover the Volvo Ocean Race for a week. The handpicked Tumblr and Instagram users took photos for their blogs of the local landscape, culture, race boats, sailors and events as they saw fit. And, not surprisingly, they got some pretty great shots (see slideshow above for examples).

The 39,000-nautical-mile contest, formerly known as the Whitebread Round the World Race, is held once every three years and recognized as one of sailing’s most grueling events. Un-motored yachts circle the globe over a span of nine months. The boats left Alicante, Spain, in November and will reach Galway, Ireland, in July after stopovers on six continents along the way.

Puma executives told Mashable that, rather than seek any specific coverage for their brand, the company was simply looking for credit as having recognized skilled photo-bloggers and brought them to the race. Puma sponsors one of the race’s six entrants and is listed as its official apparel supplier.

Some saw the move as a reflection of the increasing recognition of bloggers as credible and influential public tastemakers.

“Puma is kind of going out on a limb spending a nice amount of money and hoping to get something out of this, but the blogs aren’t going anywhere,” Sean Sullivan of Tumblr’s The Impossible Cool told Mashable before the trip. “They’re only getting bigger and better, so the companies that recognize that are going to be the cool companies in the coming years.”

According to Remi Carlioz, Puma‘s head of digital marketing, the company did get a return on its investment.

“We think it was a terrific success and a fantastic experience for us,” he said in an interview.

“In all honesty, it makes us question some of the things we’ve been doing — for example, if you have one post that gets 40,000 reblogs, it makes us look at social media in a different way,” Carlioz said. “We don’t plan to replicate it exactly, but we will definitely do more like this in the future.”

Scroll through the gallery above to see some of what the selected bloggers produced, and click here, here and here for some examples of cool cinemagraphs from the trip.

Do you think Puma is cutting-edge or wasting marketing money with these types of campaigns? Let us know in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of James Nord

More About: instagram, Marketing, tumblr

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Pinspire vs. Pinterest

It doesn't get more blatant than this. Pinspire is pretty much a pixel-for-pixel Pinterest clone, created by the serial digital ripoff artists at Rocket Internet. It's a bit obscene just how much of a copycat Pinspire is -- from concept to functionality to the cursive-style logo. Will it be as lucrative for the Rocket's Sawmer Brothers as their other projects, an eBay clone they sold to the real auction site for $50 million or the European deals site that Groupon gobbled up? Or will someone finally serve them with a cease-and-desist letter? If that happens, someone please pin it.

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In the world of social media, discovering that worthwhile original idea for your app or website is by far the hardest thing to get right. It’s so hard, in fact — and the field so potentially lucrative — that many parties who jump into the field tend not to bother. Why should you create something original when there are so many successful sites and services that you can just rip off?

At least that appears to be the thinking behind many Internet companies whose concepts, web design or apps appear to owe a lot to other, more successful forebears. Once you start looking, it’s not hard to find digital ripoffs. At best, they’re quirky homages inspired by a successful digital brand. At worst, they’re ersatz imitators looking to cash in on someone else’s idea — just a step or two above malware.

Perhaps that’s a little harsh. After all, the humor writer Josh Billings once said, “About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.” If you substitute “web designer” for “writer,” he may have been talking about the state of digital design today. After all, it would be impossible to find a design that isn’t at least a little derivative.

SEE ALSO: Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Still, there’s a difference between borrowing some core design ideas and wholesale imitating. In social media, where the essential premise of connecting and sharing with your friends provides a basic architecture, perhaps the line between the two is blurrier than in other fields. After all, Facebook was called a MySpace clone, which was called a Friendster clone before that. But they are (and were) nothing like each other.

While building on existing concepts will always be part of design, so too will mimics, where the cloning is so pervasive and total that the site is nothing more than a copy of the original, merely slipped into a different skin. Here are the 10 most flagrant design ripoffs in social media today, at least to Mashable‘s eye.

More About: BlinkList, Copycats, delicious, DianDian, digg, DZone, Facebook, foursquare, Funded By Me, hacker news, heello, instagram, kickstarter, picplz, Pinspire, pinterest, reddit, scvngr, Social Media, trending, tumblr, Twitter, web design, yammer

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The Mashable Meme Machine is a daily look at five hilarious viral topics spreading across the web right now.

The weekend is finally here, and if you’ve been too embarrassed to look at photos of cats and Ryan Goslin at the office, we’ve got you covered with this week’s roundup of our best meme coverage.

If those two corners of odd Internet culture aren’t intriguing enough, we also have a canine version of Steve Jobs, Drunk Hulk’s interview about the Oscars and a Samsung commercial parody.

Stumble upon any hilarious memes lately? Let us know. Feel free to contact Brian Anthony Hernandez (@BAHjournalist), Christine Erickson (@christerickson) or Lauren Hockenson (@lhockenson).

1. Steve Dogs

This variation of the popular 2011 meme "Yes, This is Dog" features a Husky looking an awful lot like the late, great Steve Jobs. Its origins are dubious at best, but the image of the canine staring icily into the camera while wearing the innovator's signature turtleneck has blown up all over the Internet.

Yes, that is Steve Dogs.

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More About: features, humor, Meme Machine, trending, tumblr, YouTube

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