tumblr & me (a love story)
There has been a lot of chatter today—as always—about just what, exactly, Tumblr is and the usefulness of its reblogging feature. You can find some of these commentaries here and here. Given that I recently decided to radically change the way that I use Tumblr, I though it might be enlightening to weigh in with my own two cents.
First off, I have decided to shut down my Wordpress blog and move my whole debased dog and pony show over to Tumblr. While Wordpress is a great content management system (or CMS, for those of us who don’t get enough sunlight), its free version doesn’t include such basic features as domain mapping, custom CSS, or the ability to run scripts. Needless to say, Tumblr does.
The great strength of Tumblr is that is can be used in any number of ways. Tumblr is flexible enough to accommodate a diverse user base that ranges from those who are simply interested in social bookmarking to those who are looking for an easy-to-use platform to showcase their work. I have no time for people who would try to dictate the “proper” uses to which Tumblr should be put. Such is a fool’s game.
Beyond all of this (and more importantly), I am drawn to Tumblr because of the strength of its community. There are a lot of cool people here who are saying a lot of interesting things. The Tumblr platform is a catalyst for collaboration and creativity, and while I have yet to pop down to NYC for one of the meet-ups that I hear so much about, I have a strong sense that the average Tumblr user is precisely the kind of person that I want reading my work.
I firmly believe that the ability to follow and be followed is invaluable. No blog should ever be an island. Tumblr is the lifeboat [if this quote doesn’t make the Tumblr radar then fuck me, I don’t know what will…actually I do, it will be some pithy remark from John Lennon about the health of American democracy or a poetic musing about the worldly struggles of the modern artist].
All of this is not to say that Tumblr is perfect. And how could it be? From what I hear, it was created by an 8-year-old during recess [goodbye, Tumblr radar, but the joke was too easy to pass up]. The simple yet powerful fact is that Tumblr allows me to easily share my thoughts with a wide audience of interesting people who, thanks to the ease of the reblogging feature, are able to pass my work along to an even wider community. There is brilliance lurking behind all of this.
If you want a clear vision of the true spirit of web 2.0, then take a look at Tumblr. This is where rich media content is being created, shared, modified, and discussed. This is where the arts and the intellect come together. And this, of course, is why I use Tumblr.
