What term describes the short-form blogging style that Tumblr was designed for?

The short-form blogging style Tumblr was designed for is called tumblelogging.

The term comes from “tumblelog,” a compact kind of blog built around brief, mixed-format entries rather than long essays. A tumblelog could combine links, photographs, quotations, videos, conversations, and short observations in a rapidly updated stream.

Tumblr’s name reflects this early blogging format. Development began in 2006, when founder David Karp was interested in tumblelogs and frustrated that established blogging services had not created a dedicated platform for them. He and developer Marco Arment launched Tumblr in February 2007, and the service attracted about 75,000 users within its first two weeks.

“Tumblelogging” is sometimes confused with “microblogging.” The terms overlap, and microblogging became the broader, more common description as services such as Twitter and Tumblr grew. However, tumblelogging specifically points to the eclectic, short-form, multimedia blogging style associated with Tumblr’s origins.