Twitter is a swirling vortex of vitriol, arguments and hard-headedness. Logging onto Instagram is like watching a highlight reel of the lives of those around you while all you can picture in your mind are your most embarrassing moments. TikTok is fun, but it shortens your attention span just as much as it eats up hours of your free time. Pinterest, Snapchat and YouTube are all great, but one social media site reigns supreme: Tumblr.
While most people think of Tumblr as an outdated graveyard of teenage musings and cringeposts, it’s very much still alive with vibrant communities of all kinds of people. Sure, some still use it to curate emotional collections of aesthetically-pleasing photos and song lyrics, but it has gained notoriety as a hub for fandoms and other groups.
Tumblr pages do not display follower counts, so the pressure to have lots of followers is nonexistent. This also helps prevent an account hierarchy; it’s much harder to discern who the “big” or “small” accounts are.
Most Tumblr users like that there is an option to add commentary in the tags of a post. Every blogger can add tags onto a post they reblog for organization purposes. Some, however, use the tags as a place to shout into the void. Each person who reblogs the original post can add their thoughts without editing the actual post itself.
Tumblr is also home to amazing art, writings, GIFs and more. It’s a website that encourages creativity. Some Tumblr accounts host “fests,” specific times dedicated to showcasing the talents of the artists and writers on the site.
Perhaps the best thing about the site is the fact that it offers a more close-knit, intimate social media experience. Very few celebrities frequent Tumblr, so fans are able to interact and host discussions without directly involving or bothering their idols. Online communities are much smaller than they would be on Twitter or Instagram, and it’s easier to get more of a sense of the people behind the screens.
My favorite thing about Tumblr is its humor. Aside from the website-wide inside jokes, some of the users on Tumblr are just plain hilarious. Plus, all the cringeworthy things that were posted back in its earliest days have come back around, giving people the chance to make jokes about the things that used to be considered funny.
Tumblr has its flaws, just like any other social media site. I’ve found that it is still my favorite despite the fact that it barely works on mobile devices and can’t be trusted to operate correctly. When the negativity on the more popular sites gets to be too much, I am glad to have another place to spend hours mindlessly scrolling. On the whole, the platform hosts much more artistic, thoughtful and creative content than any other website I’ve ever visited. Tumblr has been around for a long time, and I hope it stays around even longer.