With more and more teenagers flocking to the up-and-coming blogging site, will Tumblr prove to be the next major force in social media?
50 million users. 114 million blogs. 52.5 billion posts. These are the numbers that now define Tumblr, a once indistinct Internet startup that has now quickly ascended the social media pyramid to assert itself as once of the biggest names in online networking. But before delving into the unprecedented success of Tumblr’s seemingly simple concept, what makes this blogging site reign supreme among others of its likeness?
For those of you who aren’t familiar, Tumblr is a blogging site that allows for any user to create personal blogs with which they can use to share their own stories, pictures, videos, or music, for the world to see. Users can easily follow other blogs they find interesting or intriguing, all while being able to “like” or repost other’s material. This simple idea has created frenzy with netizens around the world – but why?
To put it in the words of its creator, David Karp, “A big piece of what makes Tumblr special is its ability to provide total freedom of expression”. As opposed to other networking platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, Tumblr allows users to generate a completely unique and personal online identity. While most social media sites create pages or “profiles” filled with information summarizing the monotony of everyday life, Tumblr creates an environment with which users can easily express their individuality on blogs through mediums of art, music, and video. This capacity of expression appeals to the creative and somewhat angst-y teenage souls wishing to escape into their personally catered digital paradise. Your parents don’t understand you? Don’t worry, your followers do.
Moreover, Tumblr provides its users with an overwhelming sense of community, a purpose that other sites may not have the capability to create. Although Facebook and Twitter allow you to keep up to date with your friends and family (and what they had for breakfast), Tumblr connects people around the world who share interests; whether those interests lay in high fashion or in a certain television show. One user explains, “There is a place for everyone. You choose [whom]to follow, so you can surround yourself with all the things you love. It’s so much more personal than other social networking sites”. The accessibility and easy sharing of material allows for a form of online bonding; it’s somewhat like LinkedIn, except instead of making important business connections, you are able to find peers who value your expression.
Overall, Tumblr’s ability to attract users from every walk of life is unsurpassed, yet reminiscent of other sites who have had similar rises, yet equally meteoric falls from the social media domain (Myspace, anyone?). But what makes Tumblr different is the fact that its means of expression and sharing are unparalleled, creating an individualistic world that is unique to every user. Not convinced? Sign up and see for yourself; you’ll be surprised what you find.
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2013 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Alex Gong, a student at the International School of Beijing.
About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.
Photo courtesy of UNIT-E
