soupsoup:

While this move does add some level of curation to the blogging platform, we mourn the loss (or at least visibility) of the Directory. If there’s an easy way to uncover it, we don’t see it — right now typing in www.tumblr.com/directory seems to be the only way to access it. Moreover, this move still does little to make blogs more visible to those outside the Tumblr community.

Lately, we’ve seen the platform kicking up curation efforts with fashion week coverage and curated topic pages, but we think more could be done to make Tumblr blogs more accessible.

For instance, Tumblr’s homepage exists as wasted real estate — a blank call to sign up that offers very little to those not familiar with the service. Now, if — like Twitter — that page featured some of these popular topics, tags and blogs we can see more blogs gaining attention and more people drawn to the service.

I agree, and I think the curated topic pages are a step in the right direction, but Tumblr needs to make them more visible to the outside world. If I am completely new to Tumblr, I have no clue how to get to the Fashion Week content. I like how Tumblr developed a nice walkthrough the service on the front page but it should also highlight the actual content behind it in some way.

It seems like much of what Tumblr has is hidden away and you have to really work hard to find it. Especially if you’re a new user. 

The Meetups and Themes, for instance, are mere tiny links on the footer.

(via flyonair)