• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 13, 2013

That’s more or less how Marshall Wright, head of social at spunky Austin-based digital shop T3, described what the essence of Tumblr really is during a panel on Day Three of the Social Media Insider Summit on Captiva Island.

“I like to refer to it as a virtual bedroom wall,” he explained, likening Tumblr users to the kind of people who grew up in the 70s pinning posters of Farah Fawcett or Nike “Just Do It” ads on their bedroom walls. “That’s what the audiences of Tumblr are doing right now.”

Hmmm, that description makes me wonder what the difference between Tumblr and Pinterest is, but I’m sure there are nuances there.

But the big reason for brands to utilize Tumblr he said is the fact that there is a sizeable, built-in community there sharing stuff.

According to fellow panelist Dave Surgan, communications manager of Morpheus Media/Creative Group, there are currently about 90 million people in the Tumblr community.

“It all boils down to one question: If you’re looking at a publishing platform, do you want to build something in [on] an island, or do you want to build it where there’s” a 90 million-user community?