Tumblr welcomes your paid promotion

Just as Pinterest is being invaded by marketers, Tumblr is slowly moving from the personal to the commercial with its new "Pinned Posts." For $5, you can force your posts to the top of a user's dashboard for 24 hours.

This isn't terribly new - Tumblr has already had "Highlighted Posts" which allow users to draw attention to specific posts for $1-$2 via special labels - but it is another sign that every platform, everywhere, will eventually go promotional. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the efficacy of said promotion can spread like fire or fall flat, depending on how well the audience has been analyzed.

Tumblr as I know it is popular and effective for artists, musicians, writers and small businesses who know how to capitalize on its intimacy and visual appeal. For every company trying to connect with its Facebook fans, there's a solo shop on Tumblr engraving their brand on the psyche of every follower. It's a place where you'll never hear anyone say "Unique Value Proposition" but see it conveyed and sold, time and again. Mostly this is because Tumblr doesn't feel like marketing or promotion, but more like someone's personal diary-scrapbook-portfolio.

Probably we'll see the rise of a new platform that forbids all commerce, like a secret clubhouse with a "no girls allowed" sign. But relationship marketing being what it is - the reality that we all sell, pitch and network even when we don't mean to - it's going to be hard to say where the personal ends and promotion begins.