Why I like Tumblr

[alias_sqbr]

I can't remember if I wrote a post about this or not, if I did I tagged it badly.

Anyway! I have been quite enjoying tumblr and thought I'd explain why for anyone else who might like it or is just curious.

I have two tumblrs:
alias_sqbr is for my art.
sqbr is for everything else, and tends to be reblogs of fanart (currently mostly Homestuck) and social justice rants/info, and the very odd bit of conversation.

I was going to rec some tumblrs but it all got too stressful deciding. Click on any tags on sqbr that relate to content you're interested in and see who I'm reblogging.

The basic description: A tumblr is somewhere between a blog and twitter. Like twitter it is designed for short posts and makes it really easy to reblog other people's content but hard to keep track of a complex conversation. Like a blog there is no actual limit on post length. It is VERY easy to upload and post pictures and other fiddly content. Comments are kind of possible but the default mechanism for commenting is either a facebook-esque "like" or reblogging the entire post with added commentary, which can get unwieldy. Another way to interact is to post questions/statements in an "ask" box.

Now, there are a LOT of ways to use tumblr, and what I get out of it is clearly not the same as what other people do. YMMV. But:

How this works in practice (in my experience): People make short posts that often consist of a single image, statement, or response to another conversation/question. Their readers (and their reader's readers etc) reblog or "like" the ones they like with maybe some added squee/disagreement etc, but with the odd exception there isn't much extended conversation or argument.

What I like about this:

• Like twitter, it encourages concise off the cuff posts, and has a sense of immediacy.
  
• Unlike twitter or facebook (or even lj) there's a lot less "This is what I ate for lunch today" and a lot more emphasis on content which is interesting or entertaining.
  
• A post can be reblogged well past the OP's own circle very quickly, it's a much less insular medium for sharing content than lj. This also makes it easier to find new cool people to follow.
  
• I find I have less comment angst since a lot of feedback is "like"s and reblogging without much commentary. (though this may also be a result of having less followers)
  
• SO MUCH PRETTY. It's a really great place to see lots of awesome art, fanart, photos, picspams etc. There's tumblrs dedicated to pretty much any topic you can imagine, making to easy to fill your dashboard (friendslist) with the sort of content you like.
  

It's a terrible replacement for lj/dw for long indepth conversations or to make long rambly posts (something I clearly like to do :D), but I like having one as well as my dw. One rule I learned early on is don't just add people because you're friends with them elsewhere, since it's (usually) less personal than say lj it's better to find people who post the sort of content you want to read (and then maybe become friends with them too! I'm still getting the hang of the social dynamic, since there's not much overlap between the people I know well and the ones who use tumblr socially)

Also, it's a very visual environment and hardly anyone does image descriptions. There are plenty of more bloggy text-based tumblrs too, mind you. There's also no way to warn for or cut images which can make it hard to avoid surprise porn, though obviously this depends on what tumblrs you're looking at.

So! Who has a tumblr too? Can I have a link? Do you agree with my take on it or has your experience been different?

Comments

[whatistigerbalm]

I have a fandom-oriented tumblr (this is so my friendslist here doesn't have to put up with my squee) and while I find the medium excellent for general squeeage and fun, like an endless minicon, it's terrible if you actually want to talk to people; there is no efficient, non-clumsy way to have a conversation in there.

[alias_sqbr]

I agree, if all I had was tumblr I'd feel pretty deprived for conversation.

Can I have a link to your squee? :)

[tree]

i have many tumblrs! it's a very useful medium for creating single-idea projects.

initially i only created an account in order to keep track of a friend's posts. then i started using it as a sort of bookmark-with-commentary site for things i wanted (tattoos, gifts for others, etc). more recently it's become a place to post images of birds that i like, and i'm also using it more as a general platform.

the lack of image description is a problem, as you mentioned. i actually emailed tumblr support to ask why they didn't have an alt field on the image post page, and received a very unsatisfactory response. since then i always write a description of images i post, although i confess that i sometimes don't for images that i reblog.

probably one way i differ from other users is that i don't use the like feature to indicate that i like something. i use it as a sort of bookmarking.

i definitely second your comment about not simply following people who you know from other places. the good thing is that there's no notification when you 'unfollow' people, although they will probably discover it at some point if they pay attention to their number of followers.

probably my main dislike of the site is that there's no (easy) way to customise the dashboard--either the appearance or function. for instance, i find it really annoying that there's no direct link to the actual posts from within the dash. so i have to go to the person's main tumblr page and then click a link to go into the post from there.

when i initially created my account there, there weren't even as many opportunities for commenting as there are now and i sort of didn't see the point. as i've gradually increased my use, though, i find that i prefer those relative limitations. so i don't, for instance, have an 'ask' box. and i don't enable replies to my posts.

what i love about the site is the ease of posting. it is extremely elegant and streamlined, which more than makes up for any functions lost. that's the primary reason i switched from using wordpress for my two poetry 'blogs'. wordpress and even dreamwidth were simply too bulky: i didn't need all those extra features for what i wanted to do. tumblr makes it feel effortless.

long rambly comment is long and rambly! it's hot and i can't sleep; that's my excuse. ;)

[alias_sqbr]

Long and rambly is fine, we are on a lj clone after all :D

i find it really annoying that there's no direct link to the actual posts from within the dash

In my theme there's a tiny little tab on the right hand top corner that links to the post, does yours not have that?

What's your tumblr name? With the expected caveats that I may or may not follow you and vice versa etc :)

[tree]

In my theme there's a tiny little tab on the right hand top corner that links to the post, does yours not have that?

oh. my. god. two years and i never noticed that little fold down tab-y thing. *headdesk* thank you.

mine is http://mmrr.tumblr.com/; because, of course, tree was not available. :P

[sqbr]

I think I only figured out last year that if you click the little person next to a lj/dw username it takes you to their userinfo, despite having had an lj since 2006 :)

[dingsi]

I pretty much agree with everything you said! For those reasons, I'm having some sort of addictive love-hate-relationship going on with Tumblr. In some ways it's exactly what I need, in others it's terribly lacking. The indented quotes are a pain in the ass (especially when they get squashed further and further until you have a text column with a new line for each word). I also never tire of ranting about Tumblr's absolutely inadequate search/tagging function. Its structure makes dialogues and connections with people difficult, and the point you mentioned about lack of image descriptions and no way to warn for visual content irks me too. I recently learned they offer no easy way to report abusive users either, you have to report every single incident via email and you cannot block individual users from contacting you. So in terms of accessibility and privacy, it's abysmal.

On the other hand? OMG so addictive. Very simple posting interface, perfect for days when you don't have much energy, and I love that there are so many niche Tumblrs for all kinds of subjects.

It's very easy to find me on Tumblr ;) though that account is relatively, I dunno, rambly and dorky. Other projects are listed in my Elsewhere entry.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh yes, the lack of warnings is pretty annoying too *edits post* I have to carefully navigate around Homestuck fandom and femslash fanart, since both are full of porn I'd really rather avoid eg of underage characters :/ And the search! Ack!

Heh, that was easy. And rambly dorkiness is the tumblr way!

[furikku]

I am really enjoying the tumblr for the LONG STRINGS OF PRETTY

I waver on whether I feel I should put image descriptions; I feel like it's an area so based on images that anyone who would need them would already have gone, "Oh, fuck that place, I'm goin where there's WORDS!"

It has taken me a long time to figure out the interaction setup there because I am waaaayyyy too used to LJ and DW and the talky talky chatter time there. But it's a lot of fun, and it's very gratifying to see that people are liking and reblogging some of my stuff. :DDD

I am p. sure you are aware of both my tumblr thingies. -_^

[alias_sqbr]

I like to at least say "This is a picture of a cat" or whatever, plus any text, since a lot of people can make out images but have trouble with English or reading black on white etc. I poked around and there are definitely visually impaired people using Tumblr, though they'd probably only interact with a picture-only tumblr like yours via people reblogging you.

I think I'm only aware of one of your tumblr thingies, eg the one I am subscribed to? Or am I subscribed to both and I forgot??

[furikku]

Oh! OK, yeah, I have the other one where I do most of the reblogging and stuff.