When it comes to the Internet, the main goal of a website is to be seen and heard about by the general public, and then spread through advertising and word of mouth. Tumblr, however, seems to have a different objective.
“There are ‘Tumblr Rules,’ says sophomore Emily Brazil.
“You’re not supposed to talk about Tumblr, or refer to it on Facebook.”
Brazil and her friend, sophomore Kessa ‘McCool’ Albright, were first exposed to Tumblr through their friend, senior Melanie Pederson. Both girls feel that some of the ‘Tumblr Rules’ are a bit over the top and childish.
“I think the whole ‘Don’t talk about Tumblr’ deal is stupid,” Brazil said. “People who think that need to grow up.”
Tumbleblogs have seven options of items to post: text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video. According to Wikipedia, Tumblr currently has almost 16 million blogs and more than 4.2 billion posts by their users.
“Tumblr isn’t really for the ‘popular kids,” said senior Brian Olson.
“It’s for kids who are ‘unpopular’ and are sick of seeing the popular cliques, like the jocks, get praise for doing nothing important.”
Most Tumblr-ers don’t care for kids who are ignorant of others. When someone posts something of a hateful manner, word of the offender spreads quickly and said offender is quickly reprimanded by other blogs.
“One of the posts I’ve seen said you’re 99 percent more likely to find acceptance on Tumblr than anywhere else,” Albright said.
Tumblr is a website full of inside jokes, personal stories and some of the most original people in the world.
“Tumblr is much more personal,” Brazil said.
“You can’t be personal on Facebook, because than everyone and their mother knows about it.”
Tumblr’s version of ‘Friending’ is called following. You don’t have to wait to be accepted, you can just follow whoever’s blog catches your eye. Generally, if you want a large amount of followers, you have to be original and accepting of others.
“The blogs that have a lot of followers are mostly original people that are artistic and open-minded,” Albright said. “Creativity is a must there. [on Tumblr]”
Finding someone and being able to relate to someone in life is something just about every single person strives for. For those kids who feel there just isn’t someone at the school they can relate to, Tumblr seems to be the best, easiest option to find that happiness.
“It’s weird to feel like you can relate to people you don’t even know,” Brazil said. “Kind of like song lyrics or something.”