the virtues of tumblr

[almostnever]

I've seen a few "You kids get back on my lawn!" type posts decrying Tumblr as a fannish platform. I empathize. Personally, I really dislike Twitter; I find it a really uncomfortable medium, and the fact that some fannish conversations are conducted primarily via Twitter is baffling to me. But I know people who love it! Different strokes, etc

Comments

[mirabile_dictu]

Ooh, this is good! You make excellent points here (although I still hate fanfiction on Tumblr and find discussions so, so hard -- dismal, as you say). I do love how easy it is to share images, and in effect archive them -- I can't tell you how many times I've gone back over the ones I've reblogged. They give me such pleasure.

Also, I wonder if focusing on images so much has kickstarted my appreciation of vids? I don't know if you remember but years ago you tried to help me understand vids and I just flailed. I do think your help + Tumblr + BBC Sherlock has given me access in a way I never had before.

[rheasilvia]

I have seen conversations (and feedback) work wonderfully on Tumblr - but the thing is, they only work IF the original poster (or someone who reblogs them) has a huge audience and the post somehow takes off, OR if everyone involved in the conversation follows everyone else, in the manner of a community. Even then, not every comment will be heard.

Yes, it's a new way of fannish interaction. But it doesn't meet my fannish needs, which are mostly to find stories, discuss things, and occasionally post stories.

I would not even know where to start looking for something on tumblr. Looking for fiction? Forget it... ditto when it comes to discussion. I find it enormously frustrating when I want to reply to something someone says, and can be pretty certain they're never going to see my comment, let alone reply.

And to me, posting to Tumblr is like shouting into a void. I'd hate to post fic there simply because nobody would ever see it.

It's not even that I mind the lack of direct interaction - it's that my voice is never heard at all.

[cathalin]

Great post with lots of interesting points. I'm on tumblr a fair amount, even though I thought I'd hate it. Like you, I've found a lot to enjoy there, as opposed to twitter, which I just can't get at all... like, twitter seems like so much work, to somehow find everyone who cares about the same stuff and then read and respond to all their comments? I don't get it though maybe I'd like it if I tried harder.

The anxiety/performance component is interesting. I do feel a bit of anxiety on tumblr as well, though, like, there are still people who follow me, so I feel it's about equivalent these days to posting on lj/dw and in fact I try to post to all three places unless it's a reblog because there are people exclusively on tumblr or dw or lj?

I do love tumblr for a certain category of things, definitely! <3

[alethialia]

Really fascinating insight into why people dig tumblr. Thanks so much!