If you've got a film to promote, have you considered Tumblr? Beyond Facebook, Twitter, and clearly YouTube and Vimeo—where filmmakers can show their work as it was intended to be seen—Tumblr may be the next bountiful frontier. That's what Lauren Donia, a former project coordinator at the Center for Social Media in D.C., suggests on the center's blog. (I found it reposted on the TriBeCa Film Festival's Future of Film blog, which also has its own Tumblr here.)

I'll be the first to admit I never considered Tumblr's animated GIFs and fanboy pastiches particularly conducive to lengthy conversations on any topic. When I asked a few 14-year-old Tumblr users what kinds of things they discussed there, I was told unceremoniously, "People don't talk on Tumblr." But apparently they do. A lot. Lauren Donia is not a filmmaker or a visual artist but she says she has found on Tumblr "a willingness not just to talk but to engage and promote films, books, music and art." She's so smitten, in fact, she deleted her Facebook account last year and is now a firm believer in the power of Tumblr's aggregate reach, especially for those whose films are already being discussed ad infinitum across Tumblrland. "Filmmakers not using Tumblr are making a huge mistake," she says.

So why head to Tumblr now? Sometimes pastiche, like film, can engage us in multiple ways at once. And sometimes you just have to go where the eyeballs are. Tumblr is growing exponentially, Donia points out, citing one report that puts Tumblr ahead of Wikipedia in monthly pageviews. It turns out Tumblr is also a very active sounding board late at night and on weekends, times when other social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, are relative ghost towns. In her post, Donia lays out some helpful tips on tagging, reblogging and organizing Tumblr Meetups that any film marketing team, or shoe-string indie production team, could benefit from.

Sure, we all need some well-deserved downtime. But when you've got a film to get out there, can you really afford not to connect with your audience?