Twitter and Facebook had a Baby and Called it Tumblr by Stephanie LaFreniere

Courtesy of wpmu.org

Anyone who frequents the Internet, or even just occasionally visits, knows about Tumblr, or has at least heard of it.

“All it is is a mass image search site where people post pictures that other people can ‘repost’ onto their ‘wall’ to say that it represents them,” says Corey Wallace, a PRHS junior. “It's as pointless as it can get. No discussions boards. Just images about 1% of the people in it made that 99% of the people used.”

Corey is pretty much right --  Tumblr is a blogging site where people can post, and repost, pictures, text, videos, links, quotes, audios, just about everything you can think of. Now, I use the term “blogging” very loosely when talking about Tumblr, because in fact, it’s not a blogging site, it’s a microblogging site. One word makes a whole lot of difference.

Microblogging is just an elaborate word for social networking; the only reason Tumblr is even called a microblogging site is to attract people who like to blog with the pretense that the site is for blogs, when in reality Tumblr is more picture-based than text.

Tumblr is really just a newer version of Twitter, and if Tumblr were spelled correctly it would even have the same number of letters!  At Twitter you can follow people (and their “tweets” appear on your page just like on Tumblr), you can repost peoples “tweets,” and you can post pictures. The exception is that on Tumblr you have no word limit on your posts (which is funny considering Tumblr is more picture-based while Twitter is more text-based), everything is the same. So, I suppose this is another Myspace vs. Facebook argument.
  

I try to keep an open mind, especially on the Internet with the millions of varying opinions that exist, but I could never get what was so special about Tumblr. Really, it just looks like founder David Karp saw Twitter had a word limit, and decided to make a website that didn’t, and -- seeing that one of the most popular websites around, Facebook, was mostly text based -- made Tumblr more image-based.

“The biggest argument I hear made in favor of Tumblr is that ‘it's a way to express yourself!’ But what does it say about you?” says Zoe Leino, a PRHS junior. “ You like to show off things that other people have created? How are you expressing yourself if the things you post come entirely from the minds/creativity of others?”

I agree with Zoe. As Corey said pertaining to images, “One percent of the people in it made that 99% of the people used,” and although this number is clearly dramatized, a single photo on Tumblr can go viral in less than an hour, appearing on thousands of different users pages.

“Nothing original EVER comes out of the useless cesspool of Tumblr,” says PRHS junior Ian Pickett.

My search for good quotes on Tumblr produced mostly unpublishable comments due to profanity. Hannah Labbe, a PRHS junior, said, “Everyone on Tumblr is more accepting of you than people on Facebook. On Facebook people are scrutinized for everything you post, with Tumblr you can reblog the posts you like or keep scrolling. You choose the people you follow and what fills your dashboard.”

But Zoe Leino responds with this:  “On Facebook you can also choose who you are friends with and what posts you see.” She adds that you don’t HAVE to look at everyone’s statuses. All in all, it’s the same, and if you feel “scrutinized” it’s your own fault for”friending” those people.

“I don't think Tumblr is necessarily all about ‘expressing yourself’ or doing it differently than other people,” said PRHS junior Taylor Wood, who offers a different perspective of a frequent Tumblr user. “I use it because I can find stuff that makes me laugh, reblog it and hope other people find it just as amusing. When major events happen, Tumblr users are pretty quick with spreading important information.

“Granted it may not be anymore creative than other sites, and people may use the same layout, or reblog the same content, but it's still just a fun site to use,” Taylor said. “It's nice to see that other people have some of the same views as you, you're not the only one with certain conspiracy thoughts, and everyone finds a gif of a cat's head stuck in a jar hilarious.”

Most people do use the argument of Tumblr being a means of “expressing oneself,” which is why I found Zoe’s earlier quote quite amusing. But it seems to me that Taylor is saying it should be more for fun than a personal diary.

I feel like that holds true for any social media website, bringing me back to point that Tumblr is just Twitter and Facebook combined. Though, I will admit, it is much more convenient to have Twitter and Facebook together, rather than apart.

This article was not meant to offend anyone in any way, and I apologize if it did, or if it seemed too biased. I’m not going to hate someone for using Tumblr, nor do I wish to encourage disdain toward Tumblr users. I only hope that this would help people to develop their own, slightly more educated, views on Tumblr; it’s really up to you to decide how you feel about our ever growing Internet’s contents, and eventually up to you to decide how it’s used.