Even before the acquisition was officially announced this morning, on onslaught of users importing Tumblr blogs to WordPress already began. That is, at least, according to WordPress Founder Matt Mullenweg.

He writes, “Imports have actually spiked on the rumors even though it’s Sunday: normally we import 400-600 posts an hour from Tumblr, last hour it was over 72,000.”

Despite what would appear to be a mass exodus of users leaving Tumblr for WordPress, Mullenweg appears to think that’s not the case. After he initially wrote the post, he updated it to say, “Some people are reading too much into the import numbers — I don’t think there will be an exodus from Tumblr.”

He then pointed readers to the comments on this post, where he said, “I don’t think there will be any sort of exodus from Tumblr. For most folks habits overcome internet-outrage. Even if a million people left, that’s just about a week’s worth of signups.”

Even still, other blogging platforms are likely to get a little bump out of this.

According to a recent report from Pingdom, WordPress’ share of the world’s top blogs has already been on the rise.

In a blog post, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promises that Yahoo “won’t screw it up.” Yahoo plans to run Tumblr independently, and Tumblr founder David Karp will reamin in his role as CEO. Mayer says that Yahoo will be helping Tumblr to “get even better, faster.”

Karp is even more adamant that Tumblr will stay the same:

“Before touching on how awesome this is, let me try to allay any concerns: We’re not turning purple. Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing.” he says.

As for why? Here’s what Mayer had to say about how the two companies will work together:

“In terms of working together, Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love. In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!’s media network and search experiences. The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance user experience.”

She goes on:

“Both Tumblr and Yahoo! share a vision to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas by focusing on users, design – and building experiences that delight and inspire the world every day.”

Here’s how Mayer made the announcement (with a gif!):

“As always, everything that Tumblr is, we owe to this unbelievable community. We won’t let you down. F*ck yeah,” says Karp.

Today, Google made the announcement, but it’s only for Blogger blogs, at least at this point. The feature can be enabled from the Blogger dashboard.

“Now when you’re browsing your blog’s comment threads, you’ll see activity from direct visitors, and from people talking about your content on Google+,” says Google Principal Engineer Yonatan Zunger . “For example, if there’s a public Google+ discussion about one of your blog entries, those comments and replies will also appear on your Blogger blog. This way you can engage with more of your readers, all in one place.”

“Your blog readers will now have the option to comment publicly, or privately to their circles on Google+,” adds Zunger. “And when they’re browsing blog comments, they can view all of them, just the top ones, or only those from the people in their circles.”

Everyone will, of course, only see the comments they have permission to see.

Facebook has had a similar offering for quite some time, and it’s a bit surprising that it’s taken Google this long to offer something, and still only for Blogger.

You can see the feature in action here.

In a post on the Blogger Buzz blog, Google software engineers Samantha Schaffer and Renee Kwang walk you through the steps for moving the date of a blog post from above the post title to underneath it, as an example.

“Finally, we’ve added a ‘format template’ button that automatically cleans up the indentation of the template, and made it possible to search for text by pressing ‘Ctrl+F’ once you’ve clicked into the editor,” they write. “To find and replace text occurrences one by one, use ‘Ctrl+Shift+F’ or to find and replace all occurrences at once, use ‘Ctrl+Shift+R’.”

According to the engineers, this project was conceived as part of Google Australia’s BOLD Diversity Internship Program.

Do you intend to encourage customers and readers to subscribe to your updates by email? Let us know in the comments.

As you probably know, Google has dealt a major blow to RSS by announcing that it will shut down Google Reader this summer. Also, as you probably know, a variety of other services are stepping up to the plate to try to become your next reader. Still, there is some debate about just how much longer RSS will continue to thrive, because when a major Internet force like Google calls it quits, how can we really know what to expect?

For a while, it looked like Google Reader wasn’t the only piece of the RSS puzzle that Google is killing. The RSS Subscription Chrome extension disappeared for a time, but apparently that was just a mistake, and it’s back up. Still, it’s clear that Google is actively trying to make people use RSS less (and Google+ more), and unfortunately for a lot of users, they’ll probably succeed. That doesn’t mean that many of us die hards won’t continue to use the format for as long as it’s around, but you have to wonder how many will use the Google Reader closure as a stepping stone to a completely alternative means of consuming content. Many casual users will probably take some time to better optimize their experiences on Twitter, Facebook, and other social services, and completely stop relying on RSS. Maybe that’s for the best (some think so). Maybe not. Either way, for a lot of people, it’s not going to be an easy transition.

Some of us are wondering if Google will continue to support RSS for Google Alerts, another important tool for bloggers.

“I have multiple alerts set up to alert me through Google Reader,” writes bradnod on reddit. “I do not want to change it to email because I have enough emails in my inbox already. I was just curious is Google is going to phase this feature out or allow the RSS feed to other feed readers.”

You don’t have to use Google Reader for this feature, but the question remains: will Google continue to support RSS for alerts? The odds seem a little better that they will keep the RSS option, now that the Chrome extension has come back, but we have asked Google about it, and so far, they haven’t responded.

The only other option for Google Alerts, as of right now, is email. Email. The time-honored method of online communication that just won’t die, no matter how many social services come out of the woodwork. Email continues to thrive, and doesn’t appear to be in much danger.

Email, like RSS, doesn’t rely on one company to continue working, which is probably one of the main reasons it has lasted so long. Some think this bodes well for the future of RSS too, and maybe it does, but RSS doesn’t have anywhere close to the user adoption that email has. RSS, while a fundamental part of the web for some of us, just isn’t required for the rest of the web and user identity like email is. Long story short, email has a lot more going for it, and it’s not going anywhere.

Could a significant percentage of Google Reader users turn to email as their alternative of choice?

“I think email alerts have been growing in popularity anyway, since they create a true one to one connection between the blog and reader with a daily use platform that is unlikely to ever go away,” TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden tells WebProNews. “Also, there’s very little competition in the RSS to email space, which is also growing. I’d be surprised if several of the RSS reader platforms don’t jump in to fill the inevitable void of FeedBurner’s RSS to email or at least to meet the growing demand.”

“The popular theory seems to be that people will move on to another RSS reader, and life will go on as usual,” writes Michael Surtees at Mashable. “I’m not that optimistic. RSS is not going to evolve, and I doubt it will get better. It’s basically dead now that Google has decided to stop supporting its Reader.”

“I’m looking for an option that doesn’t rely on RSS but can still tell me when a site has been updated,” he says. “The ideal service would then let me organize those sites into specific lists.”

Is it possible that email could be what he is looking for? Interestingly, he doesn’t mention this at all in his article, and the truth is, I totally get why. Many of us already have tons of email, and don’t want to add to that with all the content that is entering our Google Reader interface (even if that’s possible, which it probably isn’t). Still, email is the RSS alternative that works for virtually all Internet users. The only alternative. Why do you think it’s the only other option for Google Alerts? Not everybody is on Facebook (and certainly not the web’s other social networks), but just about everyone has email. You need email to sign up for the social networks.

It could be cumbersome, particularly if you’ve set up a lot of folders in Google Reader, but could it be possible to migrate to an email-based habit of news consumption? It’s not as if the concept is new or foreign to most. There’s a good chance you’re probably already subscribed to some email newsletters, but expect to see publishers and bloggers more heavily push for newsletter and alert subscribers with Google Reader going away. And don’t be surprised if a lot of blogs that don’t currently have newsletters suddenly start offering them.

Some of the most authoritative voices in social media and content marketing view email as a major piece of the alternative strategy. Chris Brogan had this to say on his blog:

“Turns out Google Reader is going away. As a user, I’m very sad. As a provider of content for you, I have to make sure I’m helping you. So, if you’re getting me via RSS, could I invite you to subscribe to my email newsletter? It really is where I share the best ideas I have.”

Copyblogger’s Brian Clark tweeted this after Google’s announcement:

Copyblogger’s Jerod Morris elaborates in a post on the site, “What you need to do is — by being awesome — sell your readers on why now is the best time to subscribe to your email list. Not for you, for them. And it’s precisely because of Google’s decision to drop Reader. All Google Reader users are feeling an immense lack of control right now. I know this, because I am (was) a user of Google Reader.”

Clark responds in the comments to a skeptical reader, “You can’t coerce anyone to do anything. But you can ‘invite’ them into your email channel. What would make it worth their while? What additional incentive would make them allow your content into their inbox while others are excluded?”

That’s truly something to think about. Now might be a good time to step up to the plate and give readers a little something extra in return for becoming part of your mailing list.

Morris adds, “And the idea here is not to coerce customer behavior. It’s to offer solutions to the problem and let people choose the one that works best for them. A lot of people will like the security and certainty of email, especially right now, but they may not consider it an alternative if not reminded that it is.”

In the same comment thread, Copyblogger’s Sonia Simone chimes in, “Opponents of email are vocal (and I hear you, I get too much email too), but bloggers who provide the opportunity to subscribe via both methods report that their email subscribers are consistently much more responsive. RSS is a great tool for many, but you want to make sure you’re providing both options.”

Bloggers have already been encouraging users to sign up for email newsletters since Google’s announcement, and not just Brogan. There are plenty of examples out there. Graham Cluley from Sophos writes, “Our stats tell us that many of our readers choose to follow Naked Security’s RSS feed via Google Reader. Of course, there are alternatives to Google Reader which you may want to try out – but if you want to ensure that you never miss a story from Naked Security, can we suggest that you sign-up for Naked Security’s daily newsletter? Our free daily email newsletter gives you access to all the stories we’ve written in the past 24 hours, and ensures that you never miss a thing.”

That’s just one of a many possible email formats – the one-a-day. Expect to see more options from more bloggers and publishers.

One major advantage of gaining more email subscribers is that you’re not relying on any one company to continue to support them. Email is universal. It’s going to be interesting to see how RSS gets along without an Internet giant like Google supporting it. Some feel there is plenty to be optimistic about – not just the resurgence in interest in the medium and the sudden rush for superior products from companies offering alternative feed readers, but the fact that one company isn’t dominating the landscape any longer. This is certainly one way to look at it.

Either way, I don’t think anyone would recommend that bloggers and publishers stop offering RSS feeds anytime soon. That doesn’t mean you can’t give readers a better email option or at least give them the option to consumer your content that way if they so choose.

By the way, email open rates were up year-over-year in Q4. For that matter, recent research shows consumers are growing more accepting of email marketing.

Is email a viable alternative to RSS for your needs? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Image: Chris Brogan’s blog

“Free travel blogs are the perfect way for you to seamlessly capture all of your memories from your journeys and share your adventures with friends and family,” says MapQuest’s Anke Corbin. “It’s easy to set-up and add photos, stories and more, making it possible for everyone to create their very own travel blog!”

The offering, of course, includes features to let you share your stuff on social networks or with automatic email updates. The iOS app features offline access.

Additionally, you can read journals from other people, which might be just as helpful while you’re traveling as keeping your own. There are privacy settings that allow you to share with only who you want to.

“Travel Blogs is not just a tool to help users document their recent day trip up the coast or two week cross-country excursion,” says AOL’s Brian McMahon. “As part of our library of over 24,000 blogs from Everlater, now part of the MapQuest family, our goal is to help give people valuable and authentic stories that inspire them to set out on their own adventure.”

No word on a possible Android launch.

Today, Quora made a pair of announcements, including the launch of new blogs, and that of a rich text editor.

Like its Q&A, blog posts will be categorized by relevant topics (there are over 300,000 of them). These topics are, of course, followed by users, so these people will have a chance to read your blog posts.

“This is different than other platforms where your audience is dependent on how many people follow you personally,” says Quora’s Kah Keng Tay. “In addition, because of the way that Quora works (i.e., feed, search, the topic system, other distribution channels), your old posts and answers remain discoverable and re-discoverable as Quora’s audience grows.”

More on the blogs here.

The new rich-text editor is for the iPhone as part of a new update the company is launching. More on that here.

Quora says its active writers average 30,000+ monthly views and 350,000+ estimated annual views. Its most active writers average 90,000+ monthly views and 1+ million estimated annual views.

TechCrunch reported on the finding after receiving a tip. As we’ve confirmed separately, if you try to sign up for a new account, you’re greeted with the following message:

Oh noes! Something went wrong.

There was an error loading the page you requested. Please try again later, or send us an email
at help@posterous.com.

According to TechCrunch’s source, this has been going on for over a week. Here’s what Twitter and Posterous said when they announced the acquisition:

Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.

To our knowledge, no notice has been giving of any changes, and as TechCrunch notes, the Posterous URL-shortening service Post.ly is still up and running.

We’ve reached out to Twitter for comment, and will update accordingly.

Tumblr staff simply says, “Without further ado, Tumblr for iPad is finally here. We hope you like it as much as we do.”

Well, they did also call it a “holiday miracle”.

You can now download version 3.2.3 in the App Store.

Earlier this week, Tumblr also launched some Android tablet support.

The gadget, which looks similar to Google Friend Connect, highlights your total Google+ audience. Of course, it also provides a follow button.

“As a result, you can grow your readership across the web, and reach them either in the Google+ stream, or through your blog,” Google says.

“Those of you with the Google Friend Connect followers gadget can keep using it, if you like,” the company adds. “We retired most of Friend Connect earlier this year, but we’ll keep it running on Blogger for the foreseeable future.”

You can learn more about connecting your Blogger blog to Google+ here. You can start by going to the “Layout” tab in the Blogger dashboard, and selecting “Add a Gadget”.