Thoughts on Tumblr

It’s hyperbole to declare a social media platform or service “dead”, but I feel like Tumblr is at the very least on life support when it comes to #menswear blogs.

Instagram has long overtaken Tumblr for those looking to create and share content – and you can tell this is the case because most accounts on Tumblr are only “active users” because Instagram accounts are being automatically fed into them like a blood transfusion of selfies.

Granted, a few popular blogs still exist here on the topic, but they’ve been here since the beginning and it’s now an impossible (or very time consumingly difficult) task to migrate your content outside to a new platform.

The real disappointment comes from using the Dashboard, especially on a desktop browser. Junky ads on the right sidebar and trashy in-line ads in the feed that repeat themselves constantly. It seems like the answer to the headline posed by this New York Times Magazine article is, in fact, “No.”

And it’s easy to blame Tumblr for selling out after taking a billion dollars from Yahoo, and in turn it’s easy to blame Yahoo for making Tumblr suck. But that’s too simplistic. The fact is that content consumption popularized by Tumblr led to an even more abbreviated version perfected by Instagram (or arguably Snapchat).

So, where does that leave us – or me, for that matter?

I’m not tied to any one platform forever. I don’t have a commercial reason to keep producing content on here. And I’m not as sentimental about things I’ve written in the past (although I do recognize that they might be of value to others researching certain topics). Regardless, I do like to occasionally write about the things and ideas I find interesting. I like sharing thoughts on my current obsessions.

But I’m not really interested in continuing to do it on Tumblr. I dislike my writing being placed next to advertising that I have no control over. And I’m prepared to spend a little bit of money for a lot more control in that area.

I’ve got a vacation coming up, during which I plan to have no plans and want to spend some time writing a lot of posts I’ve had rolling around in my mind for a while. When I come back, I’ll find a new home for them to be published on and share it with those of you who want to read them.

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#tumblr #writing #publishing #social media