armchair cultural observation since 1995

Is Tumblr Facebook 2.0?

tumblr

Does this sound familar? Teenagers, amusing images, sharing only with trusted friends? In some ways, Tumblr is actually Facebook 2.0! As Facebook has become a real-life social network infested with parents, co-workers, ex-friends, and people you barely know, Tumblr has become the place where young people express themselves and their ACTUAL INTERESTS with their ACTUAL FRIENDS.

-Adam Rifkin, TechCrunch

Rifkin also refers to Tumblr as the anti-blog in his article, which makes a lot of sense when considering that blogs are by design supposed to make sense, attribute where things came from and attract an audience beyond a close circle of friends. That Tumblr succeeds without doing these things – while serving up a mind-numbing number of animated gifs and unattributed photographs – might explain why “old” people like me are confused and annoyed by its massive popularity.

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