Thoughts on fandom social media (about Tumblr, but also not about Tumblr)

[enchantedsleeper]

So, things are looking a bit dire over at Tumblr dot com. (Again). I planned to post something about this during the last Demise of Tumblr episode, back when they announced that Tumblr's dedicated staff was being downsized to a skeleton crew, but I didn't get around to it.

This time, I want to throw some thoughts out there, but I don't want to write a properly fleshed-out essay, so for the details on what sparked this off, check Tumblr itself and look for summaries/round-ups (there are several). From here on in I'll assume you either have context or are content with knowing that "shit's going down" without further detail xD

I started being active on Pillowfort in January (after making an account in November during their funding plea), and I've seen a surge of new users joining as a result of Tumblr's latest BS. This makes part of me a little bit pleased, in the same way that I was a little bit pleased when people started flooding into Mastodon on the back of Twitter's purchase by Musk and subsequent decline, because it's nice to have the activity. At the same time, I mostly hate that it's happening at all, and I don't want Tumblr to die off (just as I didn't want Twitter to die off).

I also think that although Pillowfort and Tumblr have good synergy, as a general rule, most people who join a social media platform only because they're looking for a substitute for another, dying or inhospitable, platform don't tend to feel satisfied. They don't really want the New Place, they want the Old Place but not shitty. A lot of people bounced off Mastodon because it wasn't Twitter. (Or Cohost, or Tumblr, or Bluesky - although Bluesky has the highest success rate of being pseudo-Twitter). Pillowfort has a lot of etiquette and interface differences from Tumblr, even if there are similarities.

So, we'll see if that really sticks.

People other than me have already remarked on this in the past, but with every "fandom migration", fandom gets more diffuse and more disconnected, and the number of platforms it feels like you have to have some interaction with in order to cover all your fandom bases goes up. I was never big into Twitter for fandom, but it was (is) the main place for certain corners of fandom, so you had to either be present there or just resign yourself to not really interacting with activity for that fandom.

And the thing is that I'm pro fannish decentralisation. Bring back individual archives - bring back forums! But this doesn't feel like a positive turn of events, either. Especially because with every platform that becomes the new Hope of Fandom, there's a demise waiting just around the corner. (Dreamwidth, mind you, has stood the test of time, but I think this would be tougher if it were as popular as LJ was at its peak. Pillowfort also, though it has a good ethos and is community-funded, would struggle if it were truly popular, because although this might bring in more donations, the resource-intensiveness would definitely outweigh them).

Apologies for the dose of pessimism, but I'm getting pretty tired of this merry-go-round...

Comments

[vriddy]

Sorry this is so difficult :( You make good points on people forced to migrate never really enjoying where they end up because it's not where they wanted to be in the first place... A few might find they actually like the different style or etiquette and just never had the chance to try it before, but overall if you were fine where you were, being forced to move is never pleasant.

Fandom is sooooo huge nowadays, mainstream in some cases. I can't help but think that some dispersion is nice so people who enjoy different kinds of interactions can find communities with the style they like better (but I'm feeling really burnt by the hostility and dogpiles when I tried to follow my fandom on Twitter) but I take your point that it rarely works out that nicely and most fandoms end up with a core congregating on a single fandom anyway.

Glad you seem to be finding a good space for yourself on Pillowfort, though sorry about the circumstances.

[kitarella_imagines]

I don't know what's going on at Tumblr because I deliberately chose Dreamwidth over Tumblr as more suitable for me, but I can see that Tumblr is or was very popular for fans and sharing fun fandom stuff. It's a shame if it's declining.

I love Mastodon and will not be going back to Twitter, I'm not a bouncer-offer. haha.

I also love forums, I find them much more polite, accessible and of course everyone on the forum knows all about the fandom we love. There is a forum for fans, can't remember what it's called though 😣And it hasn't got many fandoms on there because most people are on social media. It's a pity.

But anyway, after all my ramblings, I hope it all works out for you 🥰

[tinkaton]

At this point I feel like Tumblr has "died" several times already and it's still going "strong," for a certain value of the word strong lmao. I've stuck with it this whole time because it's really the only site that functions in that specific way and I'll probably be there until they just nuke the entire place. I do have a Twitter and Pillowfort, but don't use the former very much (just the occasional art reblog or livetweet) and the latter not at all. But if more people move to Pillowfort maybe I'll start using it again?

If/when Tumblr does eventually die, I'll be sad to see it go because there really isn't anywhere else that well-suited for things like art/gifs. I do hope whatever becomes the next big fandom thing it's more like Tumblr/Pillowfort than Twitter. (To say nothing of Instagram/Tiktok...ugh.) I do wish more people would come to DW for fandom stuff haha but I don't think it'll ever get as big as a real social media site.