Time to start Tumbling?

They’re a few years away from office life, but if you want to make sure you’re catching the next generation of would-be employees you need to keep up with online trends. The latest trend? Tumblr, the microblogging/photo sharing phenomenon.

According to a new survey, six out of 10 teens describe Tumblr as their preferred social media site, showing the importance of embracing Tumblr as a way to reach the younger cohort.

Founded in 2007, Tumblr has risen through the ranks of social networking and last month the site had more than 86.8 million blogs and 39 billion total posts.

Some of the advantages of Tumblr for HR is that feeds are usually public, and are an excellent picture of where an individual’s passions lie. And by having a company Tumblr you connect with younger potential candidates.

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up on Facebook. As Queens University media professor Sidneyeve Matrix points out, while they may describe Tumblr as a preference, teens aren’t abandoning Facebook.

Matrix says the increasing number of parents on Facebook could be causing it to lose its “cool factor”, but 70% of teens are still on Facebook, and another survey from Piper Jaffray polled 7,700 teenagers in the U.S. and “once again Facebook came out on top as their most important social networking hangout,” Matrix said.