Tumblr has made good on its promise to reintroduce Replies after six months in the wilderness.

The Yahoo-owned platform removed Replies in November 2015, when an instant messaging service was added to Tumblr.com and its apps.

Following some blowback from its users, Tumblr said in February that Replies was removed to avoid having two features take care of similar tasks, while promising it would return bigger and better.

Get the word out

In a bid to increase post engagement through easier and longer conversations, Replies is now much more like a typical blog comments system.

Users can reply to posts – their own or those of other users – multiple times, and reblogs now host their own replies.

However, Tumblr is understanding of users who might want something resembling the old Replies, so it has enabled options to limit post replies to all users, mutual followers or only users they follow.

Note it down

Alongside Replies is a necessary redesign to Notes to account for the changes.

Notes now displays likes and reblogs in a scrolling list until there is at least one reply or comment. From there, likes and reblogs are displayed in a horizontal list above a scrolling list of Replies and comments.

The new format is now live and will be familiar to Twitter and Facebook users, and though it may be another change for the hardcore Tumblr user base, the common feel and ease of use should boost engagement levels.

For Yahoo, which bought Tumblr in 2013 for US$1.1 billion dollars but now values the blogging website at almost a third of that price, a popular feature among users and brands couldn't have come at a better time.