WEEK 5
Why your midnight reblogs are secretly saving the internet (a love letter to tumblr)
1. digital citizenship: when fandom becomes a lifeline 🛡️💻
you know that #ActuallyAutistic tag? it’s not just a place to vent. it’s where neurodivergent creators drag “autism speaks” rhetoric into the sunken place and replace it with self-advocacy masterclasses. think: ”no, susan, my autism isn’t your inspo porn” meets ”here’s how to stim without shame.” this is digital citizenship—defending dignity through memes and mutual aid (Council of Europe who? we’re too busy crediting artists).
or remember when the cyberpunk fandom turned their tag into a privacy bootcamp? VPN tutorials, encryption guides, and rants about data vampires (looking at you, Zuck). Literacy as rebellion, baby.
2. platformization: tumblr’s corporate glow-up (and downfall) 💸🚫
flashback to 2018: tumblr yeeted nsfw blogs into the void, replacing queer art with #safetymodearmy bots. overnight, the site went from “chaotic creative haven” to “mall cop simulator.” we fled to Pillowfort like ”fine, we’ll build our own utopia with blackjack and ao3 links.” platformization at its messiest—when your fave app sells its soul for ad revenue (RIP “neutral social utility” lies).
and now? Tumblr Blaze. paying $10 to promote your crackfic is peak dystopia. congrats, you’re monetizing the reblog economy (Chia et al., 2020 called it: capitalism always wins).
3. hashtag activism: keyboard warriors, assemble 🐝🔥
tumblr doesn’t do slacktivism. take #RenewSense8: fans spammed Netflix into submission with 500k+ posts, crowdfunded billboards, and turned cancellation grief into a movement. or #StandWithUkraine: artists drew wolves in vyshyvankas, shared VPN hacks for war zones, and made dashboards into resistance archives. hashtags here aren’t trends—they’re survival kits (Bruns & Burgess nodding in the background).
4. political engagement: democracy, but make it ✨unhinged✨ 🗳️🎨
who needs door-knocking when you’ve got anime stickers on swing-state postcards? 2020’s “Postcards to Voters” campaign was pure chaos: think Levi Ackerman doodles with ”vote or eren wins” threats. and #TransCrowdFund? a 24/7 mutual aid Bat-Signal where strangers venmo your top surgery. NGOs could never.
5. election tea: shitposting as policy 🍵🇺🇸
2016 was a vibe. while boomers fought over tweet typos, tumblr turned Bernie’s policies into Supernatural memes (”Dean Winchester would abolish student debt”). unofficial blogs weaponized fandom logic for voter guides—policy wonkery in wolf’s clothing. meanwhile, the rest of the internet wondered why Gen Z was so passionate about a 78-year-old socialist.
the takeaway 🔥
tumblr isn’t a website. it’s a manifesto written in reblogs. every tag war, privacy guide, and niche fundraiser is a quiet middle finger to algorithms, respectability politics, and the idea that caring isn’t cool. keep shitposting. keep fighting. credit the artist.
Bruns, A., & Burgess, J. (2015). Twitter hashtags from ad hoc to calculated publics. In N. Rambukkana (Ed.), Hashtag publics: The power and politics of discursive networks (pp. 13–28). Peter Lang Publishing.
Chia, A., Keogh, B., Leorke, D., & Nicoll, B. (2020). Platformisation in game development. Internet Policy Review, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1531
Choi, M., & Cristol, D. (2021). Digital citizenship with intersectionality lens: Lessons for pandemic education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69(1), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-09938-x
Council of Europe. (2022). Digital citizenship education handbook: Being child in the age of technology. Council of Europe Publishing. https://www.coe.int/en/web/digital-citizenship-education
Enli, G. (2017). Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: Exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. European Journal of Communication, 32(1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323116682802
Gillespie, T. (2010). The politics of ‘platforms.’ New Media & Society, 12(3), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809342738
Helmond, A. (2015). The platformization of the web: Making web data platform ready. Social Media + Society, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115603080
McCosker, A., Vivienne, S., & Johns, A. (2016). Negotiating digital citizenship: Control, contest and culture. Rowman & Littlefield.
Nelimarkka, M., Laaksonen, S. M., & Tuokko, M. (2020). Platformed interactions: How social media platforms relate to political engagement. New Media & Society, 22(12), 2267–2285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819884340
Poell, T., Nieborg, D., & van Dijck, J. (2019). Platformisation. Internet Policy Review, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.4.1425
Vromen, A. (2017). Digital citizenship and political engagement: The challenge from online campaigning and advocacy organisations. Palgrave Macmillan.