#1 Is Tumblr a Blog or a Social Network Site?
Well personally i would prefer to hear what you think! do you think Tumblr is more of a social network site or a blog? Because in my personal opinion i would prefer to describe the platform as a collaboration between the two. Or as Howard Rheingold explains - Tumblr is like a ‘Virtual Community’, where “public discussions [are] long enough with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace”. Not only are we expressing our deepest emotions through the shared images of cats and relationship quotes, but we are also connecting with each other through interesting insights of peoples lives; their blogs, their experiences, their stories.
As Bella puts it in her blog “it isn’t necessarily the place we go to to share our 2000-word piece on the 2016 American Presidential Race - rather 100-word paragraphs on Donald Trump’s hair, accompanied by a strikingly similar image of a hamster.” - Its hilarious! We are all connected through these ‘affordances’ that Tumblr allows. Rather than simply sharing a link to a friends blog, reading it, loving it, sharing it to your friends - rinse and repeat - Tumblr incorporates direct messaging, and an instant newsfeed keeping you up-to-date and connected in real-time with your family, friends, celebrities and/or personal interests.
But what is social media? or how do we define these terms Riley? - well let me tell you, dear reader!
Now, although i agree momentarily with Boyd and Ellison’s (2010) definition of social media as “web-based services that allow individuals to 1. construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, 2. articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and 3. view and traverse their list of connections and those made my others within their system.” I do feel however that Tumblr is more of a ‘social tie’ - connecting those not already connected - building relationships with a broader community not as seen in Facebook or Twitter. Facebook however relies on these ‘strong ties’ or connections, constantly feeding you information from your close friends or those you connect with the most. While Tumblr in my opinion takes advantage of these ‘weaker ties’, bridging the gap, and connecting you with that photo of Donald Trump.
- It gets me every time!
I may be new to Tumblr, but i am quickly enjoying my initial experiences with the platform. Im quickly discovering that no matter your mood you can always find a point of interest to brighten your day; motivational, inspirational, hilarious, horrific, or quite simply - stupid.
So, in answering the great debate “is Tumblr a social networking site, or a blog?”
I have to conclude that Tumblr is neither the latter or the former, but rather a compilation of both. Time Magazine (2013) confirms my thoughts by defining Tumblr “…part microblogging, part social networking”. Moreover, Marko Muellner, vice president of marketing at ShopIgniter, labels Tumblr as "a microblogging service and social network that allows users to create custom blogs and post multimedia and text as blog posts ... users can also follow other blogs and the main user interface ... is a feed of posts making it feel similar to other social networks.”
Tumblr isn’t a place to share your day, your thoughts, or to delve into your followers lives. But rather, Tumblr is a ‘Virtual Community’ to build relationships and connect with people you otherwise wouldn’t.