Facebook Could Use Notes to Battle Tumblr

When Facebook first began, a feature was Notes, a kind of bloggy way to write ideas or thoughts as well as post photos. However, since that time, it has lost prime real estate in the redesign, but could be the key to battling Tumblr.

Facebook could refresh Notes and make it a real competitor for Yahoo's new acquisition, Tumblr, according to TechCrunch.  Apparently Facebook already has the people to make it happen, by acqui-hiring the staff of Storylane, a blogging platform in March.

The refresh could make it a direct competitor, but the question is do Facebook users want it? If you believe that consumers want choices, then the new blogging ability would gain users -- likely those teens and young adults who use it and want a more "customizable presence" on the the social network. But that's also Notes' flaw -- with a boring white background, it lacks the personalization of Tumblr (or even MySpace).  As TechCrunch notes, it also lacks the ability to add video or GIFs, which apparently is the backbone of all Tumblr pages.
 
So Facebook will have to do a radical refresh on Notes to make this happen, and we're not sure how committed the social network is to creating a Tumblr alternative. It would be wise to do so, but perhaps it would rather start from scratch than renovate.
 
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