Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. Will Facebook swoop in at the last minute? — Tech News and Analysis

Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. We hear Facebook might spoil the party. But the question is: is Tumblr the fountain of youth that Yahoo badly needs or will this be case of a pathetic old-middle aged guy hanging with youngsters trying to be hip.

Changing Times Means Backing Up Your Blog

I blogged for years at a site called Multiply. I enjoyed the experience and made some great friends there. That site recently announced they are ceasing social networking and blogging features on their site and moving towards developing a retail and shopping environment. Websites are making decisions that will allow them to stay open and that means making serious business decisions that effect millions of their users. Retail trumps social connections in this case. 

Whenever you blog on a site like Multiply, Tumblr, Wordpress.com, Blogger its a good idea to back up your blog from time to time. Some sites offer tools to export your content and with other sites you might have to copy and paste to a document and save your pictures. You might be able to find software that would back up your blog from time to time.

If your blogging site offers you the ability to upload your pictures to a media locker like Multiply you will want to download that media and store it on another service like Picasa Web, Flickr or Snapfish. Storing those files on an a external hard drive will give another level of security. These are priceless memories that are hard if impossible to replace.

Paying for hosting and setting up your own blog will give you more control over your content. If your budget doesn’t allow it be sure you blog in a place that has a focus on blogging and social networking, check out other users and ask for opinions from experts.

As companies come and go it might mean you have to be more careful where you have your online home. Keep on blogging but back up your valuable digital content. This is a uncertain time online so be careful. 

Google Apps for Email And More

Today I was setting up Google Apps for my church. A change in ISP led to us creating a more permanent solution for their mail needs. I was able to set up multiple boxes and provide other tools for my pastor and the staff. 

It’s my recommendation that when you have a business or organization you get a domain name and use a email address with that domain. It will be with you longer than most ISP’s will. It also gives you a more professional way to be connected in your business. Google Apps will also give you docs, drive, calendar and more so so why not do it. 

The one thing is you have to change your MX settings. The domain registry had a tool available to make the change automatically. Once you get it going you won’t have to worry about it.