tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/tumblr-5640/articlesTumblr – The Conversation2024-02-26T17:27:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234832024-02-26T17:27:10Z2024-02-26T17:27:10ZHow Tumblr raised a generation of feminists<p>Like so many millennials, my teenage years on the multimedia microblogging platform, Tumblr, introduced me to feminist politics, which inspired my burgeoning interest in gender and feminism at university. My experiences as a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44867867">Tumblr teen</a> at the height of its popularity inspired my book, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/feminist-fandom-9798765101773/">Feminist Fandom: Media Fandom, Digital Feminisms, and Tumblr</a>, which examines the platform in the early- to mid-2010s. </p>
<p>By the end of the 2010s, <a href="https://www.youngwomenstrust.org/our-research/young-womens-feminism-and-activism-2019/">reports indicated</a> that the majority of young women identified as feminists – a far cry from the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Repudiating-Feminism-Young-Women-in-a-Neoliberal-World/Scharff/p/book/9781138274099">preceding decade</a> marked by ambivalence and unease, if not outright hostility, toward feminism. </p>
<p>From high-profile celebrities such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuUWOnS9BY">Beyoncé</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9SUAcNlVQ4">Emma Watson</a> declaring themselves feminists, to feminist books dominating the bestseller charts, to feminist commentary in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1762236">Elle</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2021.140304">Teen Vogue</a>, popular culture in the 2010s was marked by the sudden and spectacular resurgence of feminist politics. </p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
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<p>Feminism, it seemed, had lost its former reputation as an outdated and dirty word. By 2017, feminism was so central to the zeitgeist that it was declared the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/13/feminism-merriam-webster-word-of-the-year">Merriam-Webster</a> word of the year. </p>
<p>Many commentators have argued that feminism’s visibility on social media was instrumental to this revival, ushering in its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/magazine/15fob-q4-t.html">fourth wave</a>. And few social media platforms received <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/style/millennials-and-the-age-of-tumblr-activism.html">quite so much attention</a> for their <a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/article/2010s-how-tumblr-culture-legitimized-queer-fandom-frank-ocean-troye-sivan-one-direction/">progressive, queer and feminist ethos</a> as Tumblr. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Beyoncé’s 2013 song Flawless declared her identity as a feminist.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Since its conception in 2007, Tumblr has developed a <a href="https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/x346d608w">reputation for its appeal to marginalised users</a>, especially LGBTQ+ youth, girls and young women, and people of colour. Widely used for sharing knowledge, community building and personal and creative expression, both Tumblr and its users readily embraced its reputation as a space committed to social justice and the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tumblr-reinvigorated/">open, self-governing exchange of ideas</a>.</p>
<p>Why and how, I wondered when <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/feminist-fandom-9798765101773/">writing my book</a>, did this platform in particular play such a central role in the feminist experiences and identities of so many of my millennial peers? Here’s what I found.</p>
<h2>1. Design</h2>
<p>The design and functionality of Tumblr differentiated it from other popular platforms at the time. Unlike Facebook, where explicit <a href="https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14509">identity cues</a> – including your real name, age and location – are required for use, the only identity information Tumblr required of users was their age, email address and a pseudonymous username. </p>
<p>Tumblr allowed users to have a high level of control over their visibility and the way they presented themselves. By virtue of its simplicity, customisability and (initially) <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2019.1667048">lax approach to content moderation</a>, Tumblr enabled a greater sense of privacy and freedom of expression than its more popular competitors. This made the site appealing to those hoping to explore identities, issues and interests that could be unwelcome elsewhere. </p>
<p>Tumblr’s anonymity made it feel safer for its marginalised users, inviting curiosity, experimentation and openness in those important first encounters with feminism.</p>
<h2>2. Broad definition of feminism</h2>
<p>Feminists have long <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/305361/feminisms-by-delap-lucy/9780141985985">emphasised</a> that no single or universal “feminism” exists. Few versions of feminism on Tumblr achieved the <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/empowered">height of attention</a> enjoyed by liberal, white, western, middle-class feminism. But others nevertheless found a footing there, providing insight into the relationship between feminism and anti-racism, queer liberation, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism and more.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Emma Watson’s 2014 UN speech on feminism was popular on Tumblr.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The wide variety of marginalised perspectives and voices on Tumblr combined to play an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.642890">educational</a> and consciousness-raising role in the lives of its users, offering more complex and critical insights into intersecting inequalities.</p>
<h2>3. Culture</h2>
<p>For many users, Tumblr’s ultimate appeal lay in its mixture of political and educational content and content that was more playful, leisure-oriented and interest-based. </p>
<p>Many of the Tumblr users I interviewed for my book described their Tumblr blogs as a highly personal repository of all of their passions and interests, from personal life to pop culture and politics. As Emily, who is now in her late 20s, recalled: “I got my Tumblr account when I was 14. I remember an acquaintance suggested it, so I checked it out, and it really offered me a place to collate all my interests. I fell down the rabbit hole pretty quickly.” </p>
<p>When we last spoke in 2018, she said that she was hesitant to leave Tumblr, describing it as a “living document of everything I’ve ever been interested in”.</p>
<p>The mixture of personal and political material on Tumblr served an important purpose for young feminists on the platform. No longer was feminism an abstract, academic and detached endeavour. Instead, it was immediate, engaging and playful, embedded into a bespoke timeline compiling users’ every interest, passion and political affinity. </p>
<h2>Decline and nostalgia</h2>
<p>Tumblr’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820979280">controversial adult content ban</a> in 2018 was widely seen as a death knell <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-8143407">heralding its demise</a> and signalling the end of an era for a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119867442">Tumblr feminism</a> marked by the embrace of different sexual and gender identities. </p>
<p>Yet the ban’s partial reversal in <a href="https://staff.tumblr.com/post/699744158019190784/this-is-not-a-drill-our-new-community-guidelines">November 2022</a> has ushered in hopes of a Tumblr revival. These hopes are built on <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-ae/Tumblr-p-9781509541096">Tumblr nostalgia</a>: a yearning for an imagined past of the platform centring its progressive sensibility.</p>
<p>This yearning is partially driven by doubts about whether today’s popular platforms will harbour the same feminist potential for the next generation. For example, while TikTok has shown some <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2146774">signs of promise</a>, it’s also home to prominent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2023.2263820">anti-feminist</a> communities and has come under fire from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231218629">marginalised content creators</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, its focus on visibility and exposure, compared to Tumblr’s focus on pseudonymity, makes users vulnerable to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211021378">networked harassment</a>, which, as many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1120490">feminists</a> have noted, disproportionately impacts <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/online-harassment-digital-abuse-cyberstalking/">women</a> and gender minorities.</p>
<p>Despite its imperfections, Tumblr’s unique design, culture and sensibility combined to shape a generation of feminists in the 2010s. I don’t see any modern websites or apps that would be able to follow suit in the 2020s. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Briony Hannell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since its conception in 2007, Tumblr has developed a reputation for its appeal to marginalised users.Briony Hannell, University Teacher in Sociology, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109702024-02-15T19:04:33Z2024-02-15T19:04:33ZFrom Deadheads on bulletin boards to Taylor Swift ‘stans’: a short history of how fandoms shaped the internet<p><em>With Taylor Swift pulling in over half-a-million audience members on her Australian tour, we’ve been thinking a lot about fans. <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/fandom-series-152420">In this series</a>, our academics dive into fan cultures: how they developed, how they operate, and how they shape the world today.</em></p>
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<p>Fans and the internet have a symbiotic relationship. The digital era increased the productivity and visibility of fan culture, which in turn has largely influenced the ways that we all act online. </p>
<p>Fan communities existed long before the internet, but the proliferation of online platforms changed the ways in which they connect and participate. </p>
<p>Here is a brief history of how fan cultures shaped – and were shaped by – the internet.</p>
<h2>Early adopters</h2>
<p>As early as the 1970s, fans were participating in digital spaces. Some of the first email mailing lists and digital bulletin boards <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/book-excerpt-playing-to-the-crowd/">were utilised by Grateful Dead fans</a>, or Deadheads, who came together to create an online archive of lyrics. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, science-fiction fans established online repositories, using <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=11ODBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA41&dq=info:xdfcml1Q-EwJ:scholar.google.com&ots=3AYiGA9QI6&sig=2pP_prtUw6SLLNrUBPmt02Y0M7U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Usenet groups for fannish discussion and fan-fiction distribution</a>. </p>
<p>As the adoption of the internet became more widespread, so did fan culture. You could simply search for your favourite TV show or band and find a like-minded community online. This brought on an era of forums and blogs, where fans were quick to jump on sites like LiveJournal to write and build communities. </p>
<p>As social media platforms launched in the 2000s, fans co-opted them for their fan practices. MySpace fans helped launch many music careers; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119237211.ch22">One Direction fans put Tumblr on the map</a>. </p>
<p>When Twitter took off, so too did “Stan Twitter”. As a verb, to stan is to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stan">exhibit fandom to an excessive degree</a>. The public nature of Twitter (now X) allowed fans to come together in large groups to start trends and campaign. This collective power has been both <a href="https://www.insider.com/kpop-trump-tulsa-rally-hashtags-fancams-donations-activism-online-stan-2020-6">praised</a> for digital activism efforts, and <a href="https://junkee.com/stan-culture-toxic/259044">criticised</a> for harassment. </p>
<h2>The public and the private</h2>
<p>Fans move between private and public spaces online, negotiating different identities. </p>
<p>On platforms like Tumblr and LiveJournal, fans often choose a pseudonym, whereas Facebook <a href="https://www.protocol.com/policy/anonymity-real-names-jeff-kosseff">enforces a real-name policy</a>. </p>
<p>Different platforms offer different privacy settings, which also shapes fan behaviours. Private spaces allow for personal conversations, while fans embrace public channels for sharing fan works and campaigning, for example, for voting or fundraising.</p>
<p>Each platform has different social norms and functionality. Fans <a href="https://blogs.city.ac.uk/ludiprice/author/sbrm610/">adapt and develop their fan practices accordingly</a>. </p>
<p>In doing so, they have <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23166273/fandom-music-kaitlyn-tiffany-one-direction-harry-styles-k-pop-decoder-podcast-interview">shaped the social internet</a> as we know it today. </p>
<h2>Fan migrations</h2>
<p>The launch of a new platform introduces new ways to participate. Tumblr became the place for “<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/1669791/infographic-the-rise-of-tumblrs-fuck-yeah-movement">"fuckyeah” fansites</a>, sharing fan works and communicating via GIFs. Fans jumped on TikTok to create video edits, sounds and mashups. </p>
<p>Fans may also choose to leave a platform because it <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3392847">no longer satisfies their needs</a> or the platform goes through significant changes, as when Tumblr announced <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-adult-content-ban">a ban on adult content</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-elon-musks-first-week-as-twitter-owner-has-users-flocking-elsewhere-193857">when Elon Musk bought Twitter</a>. </p>
<p>While the launch of Meta’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-metas-threads-app-is-the-biggest-threat-to-twitter-yet-209220">Threads</a> provided a possible replacement for stan participation, some fans were hesitant to migrate across. Users must log in to Threads via their Instagram account, a platform many use to stay connected with friends and family. </p>
<p>On Twitter/X, fans expressed they were weary of the new platform, because they did not want their fan activities to be connected to their “real life”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1676984609786011649"}"></div></p>
<p>In cases where existing platforms haven’t met the community’s needs, fans have created their own. <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/">Archive Of Our Own (AO3)</a> is a repository for fans to share works inspired by the objects of their fandom, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858409">created in response to</a> design and policy changes made on other fan-fiction sites.</p>
<h2>Transformations</h2>
<p>Fans are known for their creative productivity, transforming and remixing their favourite cultural objects in fan-art, fan-fiction, videos, zines and music remixes. </p>
<p>Technological advancements made creative production easier to master, and the public and networked nature of platforms has allowed fan works to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.2.1.5_1">circulated to a much wider audience</a>. Audio from fan-edits often become trending TikTok sounds. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@san.skywvker/video/7239692454629231898?_r=1\u0026_t=8faCLDsiNrl"}"></div></p>
<h2>How fans shape brands</h2>
<p>The mainstreaming of fandom across digital platforms has also led to changes in brand behaviour. </p>
<p>Some brands have started to act like fans online, learning from fans’ behaviours to form an affiliation with these engaged audiences. </p>
<p>On TikTok, brands are participating in fan-based trends, tapping into community-specific knowledge and jokes. </p>
<p>The Empire State Building has leaned into #swifttok, regularly creating content that demonstrates their love of Taylor. One of their most successful videos is a fan-edit professing their love for the Eiffel Tower, set to a sped-up version of Wildest Dreams. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@empirestatebldg/video/7263189269131349290"}"></div></p>
<p>Brands are also adopting fan language and tone in their captions and comments. Take a look at the comments on one of Taylor Swift’s recent TikToks and you’ll find brands like DuoLingo, Spotify, The Natural History Museum and Peter’s Pasta using words like “blondie”, “mother” and “ICON”. </p>
<p>On Twitter/X, cookie brand Chips Ahoy! regularly posts about trending fan-culture moments, demonstrating insider knowledge. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1127613154203176964"}"></div></p>
<p>On Threads, the official Star Wars account is <a href="https://www.threads.net/@starwars/post/CukQXyuxxkQ">stanning favourite characters</a>, adopting a fannish persona. And on TikTok, Penguin Books Australia is “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/6/7/11858680/fandom-glossary-fanfiction-explained">shipping</a>” Draco and Hermione to promote Tom Felton’s new book.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@penguinbooksaus/video/7157953652232162561"}"></div></p>
<p>In my ongoing PhD research, I’ve found fans are working as social media managers for brands, leveraging their expertise to connect with fan audiences. </p>
<p>Given the widespread adoption of fan culture and practices across platforms, it makes sense that a fan’s digital literacy can be beneficial to brands. </p>
<p>As one Harry Styles fan that I interviewed explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think if you’re a brand who wants to be tapped into culture, you need to hire people who are engaging in it. If you’re wanting to jump on trends […] talking to people in their own language, in that social first native language, you need to be hiring people who were already speaking in that way.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Pattison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fan communities existed long before the internet, but the proliferation of online platforms changed the ways in which they connect and participate.Kate Pattison, PhD Candidate in Music Industry, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936772022-11-03T11:59:48Z2022-11-03T11:59:48ZMass migration from Twitter is likely to be an uphill battle – just ask ex-Tumblr users<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493138/original/file-20221102-26-ht1wcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The turmoil inside Twitter headquarters is sparking discussion of a mass exodus of users. What will happen if there is a rush to the exits?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MuskTwitter/baf8b7c63202419e98834b39dd2aa722/photo">AP Photo/Jeff Chiu</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on July 9, 2023. <a href="https://theconversation.com/metas-threads-is-surging-but-mass-migration-from-twitter-is-likely-to-remain-an-uphill-battle-209367">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585841080431321088">Elon Musk announced that “the bird is freed”</a> when his US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter officially closed on Oct. 27, 2022. Some users on the microblogging platform saw this as a reason to fly away. </p>
<p>Over the course of the next 48 hours, I saw countless announcements on my Twitter feed from people either leaving the platform or making preparations to leave. The hashtags #GoodbyeTwitter, #TwitterMigration and #Mastodon <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-users-flock-to-other-platforms-as-the-elon-musk-era-begins/">were trending</a>. The decentralized, open source social network Mastodon gained over 100,000 users in just a few days, according to a <a href="https://hci.social/web/@mastodonusercount@bitcoinhackers.org">user counting bot</a>.</p>
<p>As an information scientist who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D9LfKkAe7d0C&hl=en">studies online communities</a>, this felt like the beginning of something I’ve seen before. Social media platforms tend not to last forever. Depending on your age and online habits, there’s probably some platform that you miss, even if it still exists in some form. Think of MySpace, LiveJournal, Google+ and Vine. </p>
<p>When social media platforms fall, sometimes the online communities that made their homes there fade away, and sometimes they pack their bags and relocate to a new home. The turmoil at Twitter is causing many of the company’s users to consider leaving the platform. Research on previous social media platform migrations shows what might lie ahead for Twitter users who fly the coop.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has caused turmoil within the company and prompted many users to consider leaving the social media platform.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Several years ago, I led <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3392847">a research project</a> with Brianna Dym, now at University of Maine, where we mapped the platform migrations of nearly 2,000 people over a period of almost two decades. The community we examined was <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-do-we-define-fandom-stitch-fan-service">transformative fandom</a>, fans of literary and popular culture series and franchises who create art using those characters and settings.</p>
<p>We chose it because it is a large community that has thrived in a number of different online spaces. Some of the same people writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction on Usenet in the 1990s were writing Harry Potter fan fiction on LiveJournal in the 2000s and Star Wars fan fiction on Tumblr in the 2010s.</p>
<p>By asking participants about their experiences moving across these platforms – why they left, why they joined and the challenges they faced in doing so – we gained insights into factors that might drive the success and failure of platforms, as well as what negative consequences are likely to occur for a community when it relocates.</p>
<h2>‘You go first’</h2>
<p>Regardless of how many people ultimately decide to leave Twitter, and even how many people do so around the same time, creating a community on another platform is an uphill battle. These migrations are in large part driven by network effects, meaning that the value of a new platform depends on who else is there. </p>
<p>In the critical early stages of migration, people have to coordinate with each other to encourage contribution on the new platform, which is really hard to do. It essentially becomes, as one of our participants described it, a “game of chicken” where no one wants to leave until their friends leave, and no one wants to be first for fear of being left alone in a new place.</p>
<p>For this reason, the “death” of a platform – whether from a controversy, disliked change or competition – tends to be a slow, gradual process. One participant described Usenet’s decline as “like watching a shopping mall slowly go out of business.”</p>
<h2>It’ll never be the same</h2>
<p>The current push from some corners to leave Twitter reminded me a bit of <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2018/12/tumblr-fandom-adult-content-ban-livejournal.html">Tumblr’s adult content ban</a> in 2018, which reminded me of LiveJournal’s policy changes and new ownership in 2007. People who left LiveJournal in favor of other platforms like Tumblr described feeling unwelcome there. And though Musk did not walk into Twitter headquarters at the end of October and turn a virtual content moderation lever into the “off” position, there was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/musk-twitter-racist-posts/">an uptick in hate speech on the platform</a> as some users felt emboldened to violate the platform’s content policies under an assumption that major policy changes were on the way.</p>
<p>So what might actually happen if a lot of Twitter users do decide to leave? What makes Twitter Twitter isn’t the technology, it’s the particular configuration of interactions that takes place there. And there is essentially zero chance that Twitter, as it exists now, could be reconstituted on another platform. Any migration is likely to face many of the challenges previous platform migrations have faced: content loss, fragmented communities, broken social networks and shifted community norms.</p>
<p>But Twitter isn’t one community, it’s a collection of many communities, each with its own norms and motivations. Some communities might be able to migrate more successfully than others. So maybe K-Pop Twitter could coordinate a move to Tumblr. I’ve seen much of Academic Twitter coordinating a move to Mastodon. Other communities might already simultaneously exist on Discord servers and subreddits, and can just let participation on Twitter fade away as fewer people pay attention to it. But as our study implies, migrations always have a cost, and even for smaller communities, some people will get lost along the way.</p>
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<h2>The ties that bind</h2>
<p>Our research also pointed to design recommendations for supporting migration and how one platform might take advantage of attrition from another platform. Cross-posting features can be important because many people hedge their bets. They might be unwilling to completely cut ties all at once, but they might dip their toes into a new platform by sharing the same content on both. </p>
<p>Ways to import networks from another platform also help to maintain communities. For example, there are <a href="https://twitodon.com/">multiple</a> <a href="https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/">ways</a> <a href="https://fedifinder.glitch.me/">to</a> find people you follow on Twitter on Mastodon. Even simple welcome messages, guides for newcomers and easy ways to find other migrants could make a difference in helping resettlement attempts stick.</p>
<p>And through all of this, it’s important to remember that this is such a hard problem by design. Platforms have no incentive to help users leave. As long-time technology journalist Cory Doctorow recently wrote, <a href="https://doctorow.medium.com/how-to-leave-dying-social-media-platforms-9fc550fe5abf">this is “a hostage situation</a>.” Social media lures people in with their friends, and then the threat of losing those social networks keeps people on the platforms. </p>
<p>But even if there is a price to pay for leaving a platform, communities can be incredibly resilient. Like the LiveJournal users in our study who found each other again on Tumblr, your fate is not tied to Twitter’s.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey Fiesler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The communities that call Twitter home might decide to pack their bags. If they do, they are unlikely to be able to completely reconstitute themselves elsewhere.Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor of Information Science, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837882022-06-14T12:30:08Z2022-06-14T12:30:08ZTumblr’s enduring appeal reveals the potency of the web’s cultural memory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468558/original/file-20220613-26-bds824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=172%2C29%2C4820%2C3270&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Since its inception in 2007, Tumblr has served as a countercultural hub.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-the-tumblr-logo-seen-displayed-news-photo/1230550547?adppopup=true">Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When tech billionaire Elon Musk made a deal to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/25/1094671225/elon-musk-bought-twitter-plans">acquire Twitter in April 2022</a>, many Twitter users threatened to <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/04/27/twitter-mass-user-swings-musk-buyout-people-deleting-adding-accounts/">shut down their accounts</a> and migrate elsewhere online.</p>
<p>Tumblr – a microblogging platform launched in 2007 long known as a laboratory for <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-tumblr-taught-social-justice-to-a-generation-of-teenagers">social justice causes</a> and burgeoning fan cultures – became one contender. </p>
<p>However, many Twitter users proposing a migration to Tumblr seemed to be those <a href="https://twitter.com/BREAKDOWNMAMI/status/1518987368455356420">who had abandoned the site only a few years prior</a>.</p>
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<p>In 2018, Tumblr content deemed sexually explicit – or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nsfw-means">NSFW</a> – was banned. The controversial policy led to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0163443720968461">mass exodus</a> from the site, the so-called <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/search/tumblr%20apocalypse">Tumblr apocalypse</a>.</p>
<p>Both as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444821996715">a communication researcher</a> and early era user of Tumblr, I’ve contemplated the site’s unique place in internet culture. And in the years following the NSFW ban, I’ve seen many try to make sense of Tumblr as a platform on <a href="https://thehustle.co/01202022-tumblr/">the</a> <a href="https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/internet/could-euphoria-cause-tumblr-resurgence">cusp</a> <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/02/tumblr-internet-legacy-survival/621419/">of</a> <a href="https://qz.com/emails/quartz-company/2139456/tumblr-making-comeback/">a</a> <a href="https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/social/151662/the-comeback-of-tumblr-everything-you-need-to-know">comeback</a> or a vestige of <a href="https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/tumblr-renaissance/">a</a> <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-adult-content-ban">bygone</a> <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-mistakes-tiktok-teen-creators">era</a>.</p>
<p>And yet, long overshadowed by social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, Tumblr continues to resist easy answers to what it is and could be.</p>
<h2>From ‘blue hellsite’ to hell in a handbasket</h2>
<p>Since its inception, Tumblr has served as a countercultural hub for women, queer folks, young people and marginalized communities. At the same time, it has long dealt with issues such as recurrent bugs and functionality problems, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3da838/an-attempted-suicide-forced-a-tumblr-community-to-open-its-eyes-about-bullying">bullying</a>, <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/nazis-on-tumblr-are-attempting-to-make-white-supremacy-hip">hate speech</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/tumblr-has-cutting-and-anorexia-and-bulimia-problem/331358/">the glorification of self-harm</a>, leading some users to term it the “blue hellsite.” </p>
<p>In spite of that, Tumblr remains a home to art, fandom, memes and social critique. This is partly due to the flexibility of the main user interfaces. Both the individualized blogs and real-time feeds display an array of original and <a href="https://help.tumblr.com/hc/en-us/articles/231236387-Reblogs">re-blogged</a> media, ranging from written posts to videos. In allotting greater control over how users presented themselves online – through, for example, <a href="https://help.tumblr.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001572547-Getting-Started-on-Tumblr">pseudonymity</a> and relaxed content moderation – Tumblr stood out as a bastion for <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/founder-stories-why-david-karp-started-tumblr-blogs-dont-work-for-most-people/?guccounter=1">creative expression</a>.</p>
<p>This approach contributed to its <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/1113/tumblrs-explosive-growth/">explosive growth</a>, which crested in <a href="https://financesonline.com/number-of-tumblr-blogs/">2013 and 2014</a> when Tumblr claimed <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/people-spend-more-time-on-tumblr-than-on-twitter-or-facebook-ceo-brags/">users spent more time on the site than Facebook and Twitter</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two smiling men sit in front of a screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468556/original/file-20220613-24-76asy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tumblr founder David Karp meets with President Barack Obama in 2014 at a high point for the social media platform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-barack-obama-speaks-during-an-event-on-the-news-photo/450398894?adppopup=true">Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Such openness also facilitated the rise in NSFW content that became a core part of Tumblr’s identity. For the user base, access to queer, feminist and alternative representations of sex and sexuality was meaningful, leading to self-exploration and community building for vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+ youth. And for those who produced their own NSFW content, Tumblr’s leniency <a href="https://jezebel.com/i-m-hoping-it-won-t-decimate-my-income-tumblrs-porn-ba-1830879496">meant</a> <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tumblr-sex-workers-nsfw-artists-lose_n_5c0714fbe4b0fc236111037e">income</a>. </p>
<p>The embrace of NSFW content – <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/5/18126451/tumblr-porn-social-media-ban">a rarity for social media platforms </a> – was even endorsed by its founder David Karp, who once characterized Tumblr as “<a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tumbling-on-success">an excellent platform for porn</a>.” </p>
<p>In 2013, <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2013/05/20/technology/yahoo-buys-tumblr/index.html">after Yahoo acquired Tumblr</a>, there was concern that the platform would tighten its content policies. However, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promised Tumblr users <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tumblr-yahoo-idUSBRE94I0C120130520">that little would change</a>.</p>
<p>Events that followed, however, would transform Tumblr.</p>
<p>First, in 2017, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/13/verizon-completes-yahoo-acquisition-marissa-mayer-resigns.html">Verizon Communications bought Yahoo</a>. Later that year, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/11/27/16706032/tumblr-david-karp-leaves-ceo-yahoo-oath">Karp left the company</a>. Then, in early 2018, a federal law called <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom">FOSTA-SESTA</a> passed, which made website operators like Verizon liable for sex trafficking or sex work carried out on their platforms. That November, Apple Store <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18104366/tumblr-ios-app-child-pornography-removed-from-app-store">removed the Tumblr app</a> after child sexual abuse material was found on the site. Weeks later, Tumblr announced a ban on NSFW content that went into effect on Dec. 17, 2018.</p>
<p>But that same month, <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/4/18126112/tumblr-porn-ban-verizon-ad-goals-sex-work-fandom">Vox reported</a> that the NSFW ban was underway well before the Apple Store controversy. The objective: to sell more ads.</p>
<p>Tumblr’s various parent companies have long tried to monetize a platform <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/can-tumblrs-david-karp-embrace-ads-without-selling-out.html">historically resistant to traditional advertising</a>. The ban became a way to attract companies hesitant to advertise alongside pornography. </p>
<p>This move was transparent to many Tumblr users, who claimed that Verizon was repackaging its profit motive as a crusade to protect children.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444821996715">I’ve researched how</a>, in response to the NSFW ban, pockets of resistance emerged, ranging from <a href="https://logoffprotest.tumblr.com/post/181154543489/logoffprotest-logoffprotest-dbdspirit-the">boycotts</a> and <a href="https://www.change.org/p/tumblr-stop-the-december-17th-tumblr-nsfw-ban">petitions</a> to scathing critiques and <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/tumblr-dead-twitter-mourning-memes/">memes</a>. The policy, at its core, was a battleground for a deeper power struggle between platform owners and users. </p>
<p>The disconnect between how the two sides envisioned the platform ended up being mutually destructive. While Tumblr’s user culture was irreparably damaged, its corporate side also suffered, experiencing <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-lost-a-third-of-its-users-after-porn-ban">massive drops in site traffic</a>. In 2019, Verizon sold Tumblr to Wordpress’ owner, Automatic, for US$3 million – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/13/tumblr-once-sold-billion-owner-wordpress-just-bought-site-fraction-that/">a fraction of the $1.1 billion Yahoo had paid for it</a>.</p>
<h2>The end or a new beginning?</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/tumblr-tag-ban/">clashes over site policy</a> persist to this day, I’ve started to see talk about Tumblr’s possible resurgence. </p>
<p>Even before Musk’s Twitter announcement, the platform seemed to be making strides in regaining public interest and relevancy.</p>
<p>There’s been the hype around the <a href="https://draculadaily.substack.com/about">Dracula Daily newsletter</a>, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/dracula-daily-reanimates-the-classic-vampire-novel-for-the-age-of-memes-and-snark-183084">percolated on Tumblr</a> in May 2022. Fan cultures for newer shows like “<a href="https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/internet/could-euphoria-cause-tumblr-resurgence">Euphoria</a>” and “<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/succession*?sort=top">Succession</a>” have also flourished on the site. And in meme culture, “<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/12/11/20991671/memes-decade-doge-baby-yoda">Tumblr humor</a>” – typified by a dry, absurdist and self-deprecatory wit – continues to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@diseasedisorder/video/7092488402880318762">circulate</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jelIyjar/status/1221846975437426689">widely</a> <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/25-times-tumblr-was-ridiculously-weird-about-animals">online</a>. </p>
<p>But Tumblr’s “resurrection” seems to rely primarily on <a href="https://partner.studentbeans.com/blog/gen-z-trends/gen-zs-nostalgia/">a youth culture in the grips of nostalgia</a> for the early 2010s. What has been termed <a href="https://www.nylon.com/life/2014-tumblr-nostalgia-tiktok">Tumblrcore</a> – a 2010s subculture with a particular media taste, internet experience and soft grunge style – is a recent addition to the trend. Its renewed popularity was affirmed earlier this year with <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/2014-tumblr-girl-aesthetic">Vogue’s coverage</a> of the “2014 Tumblr Girl aesthetic.” </p>
<p>Tumblr, then, like the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown">defunct video sharing platform Vine</a>, has become a touchpoint <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/how-tumblr-became-popular-for-being-obsolete">for young people </a> who grew up on the internet and have emotional ties to its cultural history. As companies like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home/facebook-wants-to-bring-back-young-adults-on-its-platform-but-they-say-theres-nothing-much-it-can-do-to-win-them/articleshow/90206539.cms#:%7E:text=It%20has%20lost%202.7%25%20of,been%20on%20a%20steady%20decline.">Facebook struggle</a> with the Gen Z demographic, Tumblr has, for some of them, emerged as an attractive “vintage” alternative – comparable to <a href="https://www.insidehook.com/article/internet/why-are-young-people-using-disposable-cameras">the return of disposable cameras</a> among young people. </p>
<h2>The TikTok roadblock</h2>
<p>But alongside these glimmers of regeneration, Tumblr faces two key obstacles.</p>
<p>The first is the ascent of TikTok. Though also <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/community-guidelines?lang=en">prohibiting NSFW content</a>, TikTok has imported many of Tumblr’s cultural features – from discourses around <a href="https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/its-here-and-queer-how-tiktok-became-the-gen-z-tool-of-lgbtq-education/">sexuality</a> and <a href="https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tiktok-helps-gen-z-learn-about-social-justice-issues-study-finds/582916/">social justice</a> to the promotion of <a href="https://gritdaily.com/tiktok-eating-disorders/">pro-anorexia content</a> and <a href="https://youthopia.sg/read/cyberbullying-on-tiktok-is-a-major-issue/">bullying</a>. With TikTok as the beating heart of online youth culture, Tumblr is pushed further to its edges.</p>
<p>The second is Tumblr itself. While fighting to increase site traffic and <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/tumblr-monetization-post-fanfic/">earn ad revenue without driving users away</a>, the NSFW ban, like a vengeful spirit, continues to haunt Tumblr. One need only look at responses to <a href="https://twitter.com/tumblr/status/1518696182050004993">Tumblr’s</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/tumblr/status/1518727409213734912">tweets</a> in the wake of Musk’s acquisition announcement. Representing the loss of once-prized community values, the ban, for many, became an emblem of the broken <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/rebecca-mackinnon/consent-of-the-networked/9780465063758/">social contract</a> between users and ownership.</p>
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<p>And so contradictory forces shape Tumblr’s standing. On the one hand, the memory of Tumblr keeps it alive in popular culture. At the same time, the underbelly of this memory – the part consumed by unresolved wrongs and resentments – seems to stop short any growth that could lead to a true renaissance. </p>
<h2>Beyond platform ‘life’ and ‘death’</h2>
<p>The peculiar case of Tumblr shows how classifying platforms as dead, dying or alive can be limiting. Such a frame often operates according to a capitalist logic in which “growth” means life and “stagnation” signals death.</p>
<p>Dwelling somewhere in between surge and stasis, Tumblr serves as a reminder that platforms are not just profit-driven businesses but gathering places with rhythms and cycles of their own. They are also cultural artifacts that, in moving through the collective imagination, take on different shapes and functions. </p>
<p>Attention to the in-between reveals a more complex relationship between users, platforms and owners. It is here the savviness of social media users is on display. Though platform owners wield unilateral power and control, users are increasingly equipped with an arsenal of resistance tactics, including exodus or migration. The rise of this untethered user – one who takes a nomadic approach to digital life – may pose an unexpected threat to digital intermediaries. </p>
<p>Tumblr is a case in point. And yet, in its new phase of existence, it remains a vibrant space for communication, culture and laughs. Its home at the margins should instead push us to imagine an internet free from the belief that bigger is always better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeanna Sybert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite a mass exodus of users in 2018, Tumblr continues to be a place that fosters fandom and subcultures. Now, Gen Zers searching for a dose of early-2010s internet nostalgia are signing up.Jeanna Sybert, Ph.D. Candidate in Communication, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830842022-05-20T12:15:39Z2022-05-20T12:15:39Z‘Dracula Daily’ reanimates the classic vampire novel for the age of memes and snark<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464139/original/file-20220519-12-eujbju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C34%2C1075%2C841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An online audience is reading the vampire novel for the first time, en masse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vampire-teeth-to-go-with-story-on-boston-ballet-companys-news-photo/141665303">Diane Barros/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re an active social media user, perhaps you’ve noticed a surge in posts recently <a href="https://dramatic-dolphin.tumblr.com/post/684034902439706624/i-love-how-you-guys-are-discovering-spicy">about paprika</a>, <a href="https://noritaro.tumblr.com/post/683727305352298496/he-threw-out-my-shaving-mirror">reflective shaving glasses</a> and <a href="https://banrionceallach.tumblr.com/post/684435414397927424/darchildre-friends-we-have-reached-the-point-in">castle hospitality in Transylvania</a>. One hundred twenty-five years after its initial publication, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is having a resurgence. </p>
<p>The current popularity bump is thanks to an email newsletter called “<a href="https://draculadaily.substack.com">Dracula Daily</a>.” The original 1897 version of “Dracula” was told in epistolary format, meaning the novel’s plot is presented through journal entries, letters, newspaper articles and the like. <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/dracula-daily-interview-matt-kirkland/">Matt Kirkland hit on a simple idea</a>: Release the novel “Dracula” by entry, by date. Subscribers to his Substack newsletter receive messages in their inboxes day by day as the vampire tale unfolds in real time. If there’s no action on that date, there’s no message sent.</p>
<p>“Dracula Daily” has become the <a href="https://twitter.com/woniiwasp/status/1522763544751747072">coolest book club on the internet</a>, <a href="https://nienna14.tumblr.com/post/683508500300759040">taking Tumblr, especially, by storm</a>. As <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/authors/stanley-stepanic/">a Dracula and vampire scholar</a>, I’m not surprised to see a new example of the story’s persistence and its tendency to find new life with modern audiences. Considered by many to be a classic of horror literature, Stoker’s “Dracula” is frequently <a href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=dracula&so=rel">referenced</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dracula/">discussed</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=dracula&ref_=fn_kw_kw_1">adapted</a>. What makes the phenomenon of “Dracula Daily” so interesting, though, is not just <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856516675256">how it is finding a new audience</a>, but the way the material is being consumed by these fans.</p>
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<h2>Following the action in real time</h2>
<p>Stoker’s “Dracula” is not unique in using an epistolary style; it’s not even the first work of vampire fiction to do so. But by including the new technologies of his time – such as the phonograph and the typewriter – Stoker gave his tale a modern feel, much as if it were written today using Reddit entries composed on a smartphone.</p>
<p>The novel starts on May 3, with Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, describing his travels to visit a mysterious client in Transylvania. “Dracula Daily” readers received this particular entry on the same date, <a href="https://draculadaily.substack.com/p/dracula-may-3-590?s=r">with a flippant summary stating</a> “Meet Jonathan Harker, on a fun road trip for work, as he collects some new recipes.” With that intro, the opening Stoker wrote in the 19th century to set the scene comes off like a naïve travel blog to 21st-century readers scrolling on their phones.</p>
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<p>The only difference between the original novel and the emailed content is that Kirkland opts to release the material in chronological order. For instance, Jonathan Harker witnesses Count Dracula scaling the wall of his castle in “lizard fashion” for the third and final time on June 29. His fiancee, Mina Murray, writes a letter to her friend Lucy Westenra on May 9. In the novel, the description of Dracula’s uncanny exit is presented before Lucy’s chatty letter. In “Dracula Daily,” it’s the reverse. Subsequent sections are published in the same way.</p>
<p>Newsletter subscribers are thus consuming the novel not just in a different format, but in a different order. While faithful to the original text, “Dracula Daily” is, in a sense, a partial retelling of the book.</p>
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<h2>Protectively mocking ‘my buddy Harker’</h2>
<p>Upon initial publication, “Dracula” was dismissed by some influential critics. One comment was that “the early part goes best.” And it’s these first entries that have grabbed the “Dracula Daily” audience’s attention in 2022. They follow Jonathan Harker’s journey to meet Count Dracula to assist with his purchasing of properties in England. It hardly sounds like the sinister scheming of a centuries-old undead vampire lord. To audiences in 1897, the novel was quite similar to previous vampire literature, and such details were largely overlooked as par for the course. </p>
<p>But today’s audience meets Harker’s descriptions with more critical scrutiny. Readers laugh as Harker marches past <a href="https://hydroflorix.tumblr.com/post/683450842647560192/loving-the-way-time-and-context-has-turned-dracula">what are obviously red flags</a>. When locals stare at him and talk among themselves of Satan, hell, werewolves and vampires after hearing his travel plans, Harker simply adds a parenthetical note to himself: “(Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions).” For Harker, who does not believe in vampires, this would hardly seem a nonsensical idea.</p>
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<p>Modern readers, even if tackling Stoker’s writing for the first time, however, are well aware that Count Dracula is a bloodthirsty vampire who has much more than British real estate on his mind. Trained by social media to mockingly scrutinize online content, “Dracula Daily” readers revel in minor details that <a href="https://selkielore.tumblr.com/post/683597812391428097/omg-the-count-kept-him-up-all-night-talking">are easily mocked</a>. For instance, the fact that Dracula, maintaining the pretense that there are servants in this remote vampire’s lair, secretly makes Jonathan Harker’s bed himself, is viewed in a new and humorous light. “<a href="https://ashtry.tumblr.com/post/683781830922698752/i-appreciate-draculas-efforts-in-running-a-one">I appreciate Dracula’s efforts in running a one man hotel</a>,” commented Tumblr user ashtry.</p>
<p>In Stoker’s time, one critic called the book’s descriptions “probably quite uncanny enough to <a href="https://beladraculalugosi.wordpress.com/contemporary-reviews-of-bram-stokers-dracula/">please those for whom they are designed</a>” – meaning, essentially, trash written for trash. Tumblr audiences in particular seem to have picked up on this quality, approaching the material with plenty of snark. It’s the mocking analysis of the novel by modern readers that <a href="https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/683789213230137344/email-isgood-again-the-dracula-daily-newsletter">sent “Dracula Daily” trending</a>.</p>
<h2>Consuming the story as a social experience</h2>
<p>Readers always interpret a book’s style and meaning through the lens of their own knowledge and experiences. But the majority of previous “Dracula” interpretation I’ve seen has been at the hands of scholars and devoted fans. The social media response to “Dracula Daily” is different, with a primarily younger audience riffing on the novel in a new way.</p>
<p>As audiences analyze the novel piece by piece, they are engaging one another with memes and artistic interpretations of the plot as it unfolds. For instance, Harker’s description of Dracula climbing down the walls of his castle in “lizard fashion” has elicited visual art of <a href="https://horseboneologist.tumblr.com/post/684336161182892032/serve-it-id-a-digital-drawing-of-count">fashion looks</a> <a href="https://draculaesque.tumblr.com/post/684328757123842048/looks-for-climbing-vertically-down-the-walls-of">inspired by lizards</a>.</p>
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<p>Because “Dracula Daily” reveals the plot day by day, readers follow the story together and are all at the same place in the narrative at the same time. As in the heyday of radio or network series television, the audience can gather around the (<a href="https://vampirediaries.fandom.com/wiki/Blog:Recent_posts">now virtual</a>) water cooler to discuss the latest revelation and speculate about what’s to come. Anyone could easily read ahead in the novel. But people are waiting with bated breath for the next installment to hit their inboxes.</p>
<p>It’s like a chapter-by-chapter book club. The forced slow pace leaves plenty of time for the ecosystem of memes and posts to flourish as the delicious dread builds about just what Dracula will do. As the plot further unfolds, I look forward to continuing to be entertained by the “Dracula Daily” audience – at least until Nov. 6, when the story will draw to a close for this year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley Stepanic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A newsletter sends out chronological snippets from the 125-year-old novel ‘Dracula.’ Fans on the internet go wild.Stanley Stepanic, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1662532021-09-28T11:57:01Z2021-09-28T11:57:01ZSocial media gives support to LGBTQ youth when in-person communities are lacking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423023/original/file-20210923-21-1fxtf5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3000%2C2991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social media can provide ways for LGBTQ youth to learn more about, and stay connected to, their identities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/celebrating-pride-on-social-media-royalty-free-illustration/1250449474">miakievy/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teens today have <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-online-communities-pose-risks-for-young-people-but-they-are-also-important-sources-of-support-158276">grown up on the internet</a>, and social media has served as a space where LGBTQ youth in particular can develop their identities.</p>
<p>Scholarship about the online experiences of LGBTQ youth has traditionally focused on <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40653-017-0175-7">cyberbullying</a>. But understanding both the risks and the benefits of online support is key to helping LGBTQ youth thrive, both on- and offline.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZuHbDP0AAAAJ&hl=en">senior research scientist</a> studying the benefits and challenges of <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Youth-Media-Wellbeing-Research-Lab/youth-media-wellbeing-research-lab">teen social technology and digital media use</a>. My colleagues, <a href="https://wellesley.academia.edu/RachelHodes">Rachel Hodes</a> and <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Research-Associates/amanda-richer">Amanda Richer</a>, and I recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">conducted a study</a> on the social media experiences of LGBTQ youth, and we found that online networks can provide critical resources for them to explore their identities and engage with others in the community.</p>
<h2>Beyond cyberbullying</h2>
<p>The increased risk of cyberbullying that LGBTQ youth face is well-documented. LGBTQ youth are <a href="https://www.glsen.org/news/out-online-experiences-lgbt-youth-internet">almost three times more likely</a> to be <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.chiabu.2014.08.006">harassed online</a> than their straight, cisgender peers. This can result in increased rates of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2011.649616">depression and feelings of suicide</a>: 56% of sexual minorities experience depression, and 35% experience suicidal thoughts as a direct result of cyberbullying.</p>
<p>However, the digital landscape may be shifting.</p>
<p>Our 2019 survey of 1,033 children ages 10 to 16 found <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">no difference</a> between the amount of cyberbullying reported by straight versus sexual minority youth residing in a <a href="https://transgenderlawcenter.org/equalitymap">relatively progressive part of the U.S.</a> known for legalizing gay marriage. Some social media platforms like <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-something-queer-about-tumblr-73520">Tumblr</a> are considered a safer haven for sexual minorities than others, especially during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-young-lgbtqia-people-used-social-media-to-thrive-during-covid-lockdowns-156130">COVID-19 lockdown</a>. This is despite past <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-blocked-searches-lgbt-terms-bisexual-and-called-it-error-703550">censorship of LGBTQ content</a> on certain platforms due to biases in the algorithm.</p>
<p>LGBTQ youth tend to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">smaller online social networks</a> than their straight peers. We found that LGBTQ youth were significantly less likely than their straight peers to engage with their online friends. Conversely, LGBTQ youth are more likely to have friends they know only online, and to perceive these online friends as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.08.006">significantly more socially supportive</a> than their in-person friends. </p>
<p>The LGBTQ youth we surveyed in our study were more likely to join an online group in order to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">reduce social isolation or feelings of loneliness</a>, suggesting that they were able to reach out to and engage with social media networks outside of their in-person peer circles in supportive and fortifying ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person lying down with rainbow sock-clad legs resting on the back of a sofa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">LGBTQ youth are less likely to be friends with family members online and more likely to join social media sites their parents would disapprove of.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenager-lyiing-down-with-her-legs-resting-on-the-royalty-free-image/1324272422">Vladimir Vladimirov/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Despite living in an area with higher levels of acceptance toward sexual minorities, our study participants felt a need to keep parts of their identities separate and hidden online. They were less likely than non-LGBTQ kids to be friends with family members online and more likely to join social media sites their parents would disapprove of. And about 39% said they had no one to talk to about their sexual orientation at all.</p>
<h2>Not just surviving, but thriving online</h2>
<p>Despite the risk of online harassment and isolation, social media can give LGBTQ youth space to explore their sexual identities and promote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.07.051">mental well-being</a>.</p>
<p>In 2007, Australian researchers conducted one of the earliest studies on how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363460707072956">internet communities serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth</a> who face hostile environments at home. Their surveys of 958 youth ages 14 to 21 found that the anonymity and lack of geographic boundaries in digital spaces provide an ideal practice ground for coming out, engaging with a communal gay culture, experimenting with nonheterosexual intimacy and socializing with other LGBTQ youth.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration phone with rainbow heart on the screen, surrounded by positive reaction symbols." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some LGBTQ youth use social media to engage with and support social causes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/diversity-on-social-media-royalty-free-illustration/1325416830">gobyg/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The internet also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363460707072956">provides critical resources</a> about LGBTQ topics. LGBTQ youth may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.009">use online resources</a> to educate themselves about sexual orientation and gender identity terminology, learn about gender transition and find LGBTQ spaces in their local community. The internet can also be a useful tool to identify LGBTQ-friendly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69638-6_4">physicians, therapists and other care providers</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, online platforms can serve as springboards for LGBTQ activism. A <a href="https://www.glsen.org/news/out-online-experiences-lgbt-youth-internet">2013 report by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network</a> surveying 1,960 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 18 found that 77% had taken part in an online community supporting a social cause. While 68% of LGBTQ youth also volunteered in-person, 22% said they only felt comfortable getting involved online or via text. This signals that online spaces may be critical resources to foster civic engagement.</p>
<p>While social media is not without its dangers, it can often serve as a tool for LGBTQ youth to build stronger connections to both their local and virtual communities, and communicate about social issues important to them. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Charmaraman receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>While online communities may not fully address the isolation LGBTQ youth face in-person, they can serve as an important source of social support and a springboard for civic engagement.Linda Charmaraman, Director of Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1453222020-09-17T19:50:00Z2020-09-17T19:50:00ZFriday essay: shifting identities - performing sexual selves on social media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356177/original/file-20200903-20-16rx326.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C740%2C3316%2C3412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Dooley/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sex is fascinating, important, and sometimes scary. Sex is a normal part of life. Yet, the multiplicity and richness of sexual practices on social media rarely make it into everyday conversations.</p>
<p>Nudes, it seems, are now part of everyday life. On social media, there are platform rules around what kinds of adult content is allowed. Some platforms heavily restrict displays of nudity or sexual activity; others allow it. But between these rules, people engage in a variety of tactics to control what facets of their identities can be seen by their audiences. </p>
<p>The sociologist <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/61106/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-by-erving-goffman/">Erving Goffman</a> called this “audience segregation”: we make sure our different audiences – those to whom you are good daughter versus those to whom you are kinky sex goddess – do not mix.</p>
<p>Since our audiences are mostly invisible on social media, we need to imagine who they are. This imaginary then guides what we choose to say, show, share or otherwise express.</p>
<p>We have spent years studying people’s sexual practices on social media. Through interviews, online observation, and content analysis we have identified three main tactics of expressing sexual selfhood: setting up alternative accounts or incorporating alternative platforms; omissions - i.e. strategically leaving out details from the information one shares; and anonymity or using a pseudonym.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-what-controls-our-sex-drive-when-and-why-do-we-feel-like-sex-61159">Health Check: what controls our sex drive? When and why do we feel like sex?</a>
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<h2>‘Networked sex accounts’</h2>
<p>Choosing to express different facets of oneself on different platforms or through different accounts is a common practice, and not necessarily a sexual one. But how these multiple platforms are used when it comes to sex, varies enormously. </p>
<p>Some find it appropriate to post Not Safe for Work (NSFW) content on mainstream social media like Twitter or Instagram and do so from their given name or “main” account. This includes those in the sex industry, but also others including artists, activists, feminists, body-positive bloggers, educators, actors, models and nudists.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman types on a laptop while wrapped in a sheet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356236/original/file-20200903-14-1m4pqae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We often show different parts of ourselves on different social media accounts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ava Sol/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other people create alternative accounts on platforms they’re familiar with, or accounts on another platform, to express sexual aspects of their self, but keep the audiences separate. </p>
<p>Some people create a secondary or “alt” account for their sexual identity on Twitter. They then use it to connect with like-minded people, talk about sex and share nudes, usually in a small, intimate circle of other alt accounts. </p>
<p>In this space made up of networked sex accounts, sexual images flow in abundance, even if the platform more broadly is better known for images of coffee art, political talk or aggressive arguments. </p>
<p>This is not to say that people show their full, entire self in these secondary accounts. These are still facets. However, the facets do vary considerably in depth and detail. </p>
<p>For instance, on Facebook, people show their face, but not their naked body. They talk using their real name, about their jobs and maybe their children. </p>
<p>On Tumblr, they might show their bodies, but not their faces. They post under a pseudonym and talk about both the profound – private thoughts, desires, anxieties – and the completely trivial (a favourite dish, a beloved cartoon character, a silly joke). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-safest-sex-youll-never-have-how-coronavirus-is-changing-online-dating-134382">The safest sex you'll never have: how coronavirus is changing online dating</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s left out</h2>
<p>Deciding what information to leave out is integral to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewild">Reddit Gonewild</a>. This exhibitionist subreddit, a themed thread on the bulletin board Reddit, features posts of women in stages of undress and sexual pleasure. These women mostly choose to obscure their faces, avoid unique backdrops, blur out recognisable tattoos and use a pseudonym while posting. </p>
<p>The appeal of the posts lies in their everydayness; these are women who enjoy showing off sexually, revealing intimate parts of their bodies and lives while staying unidentifiable. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The back of a woman, one hand touches the top of her underwear. She wears nothing else." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356239/original/file-20200903-20-uhb46s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On Reddit Gonewild, women share intimate photos where they remain unidentifiable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Huha/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reddit Gonewild itself <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewild/comments/5fr58x/rgonewild_faq_in_post_format_since_many_mobile/">encourages this</a>, urging those posting to stay anonymous by making a “throwaway” or temporary, anonymous account; using a service that strips metadata from photos, (deleting automatically generated information like the device used, location details, and time the photo was taken); and making sure the photo obscures enough.</p>
<p>Its rules state:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You should blur out tattoos or maybe certain birth marks someone could recognise if they’ve seen you in a low cut or sleeveless shirt. Don’t stand next to the wacky lamp that everyone in your dorm knows you for. Don’t pose seductively on the hood of a car with your license plate showing […] </p>
<p>You CAN be creative even under these constraints. Take it up as part of the challenge. Dress up your room a little! Reverse the comforter on your bed. Clear off the bathroom counter. Do anything to make the picture look sexy and fun, but make yourself a little less recognisable - a little harder to place. This is your alter ego!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is common also to evade some questions or fabricate information in sexual social media interactions or posts. Typically, this includes changing information about where one lives. </p>
<p>How comfortable someone is in saying which country, state or city they are from depends quite a lot on the size of that territory, but also on their goals and needs. Wanting to receive information or access to local events, groups and people requires you to reveal your location quite accurately. </p>
<p>In our research, we found American participants were usually happy to name their state, some even their (large) city on NSFW Tumblr. However, people from very small European countries preferred not to share this information, to avoid being known as that one Estonian naked on the internet. </p>
<p>On other platforms, where choosing one’s location from a drop-down menu is a mandatory part of setting up a profile, many people interested in consuming sexual information and not interactions choose Antarctica as their location (and being 98-years-old). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ice-bergs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356187/original/file-20200903-20-lob22h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t want anyone to know where you live? Say you live in Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Eades/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sharing information about one’s occupation followed similar logic. The more specific the field or the position, the less likely it was to be shared. </p>
<p>Other information sharing rules people have for themselves are less about audience segregation and more about their purposes for using social media. </p>
<p>Those interested in cheating might not mention they had a partner, although building a relationship from shared commiseration regarding partners is very common. Others do not mention their children on principle.</p>
<h2>Pseudonyms</h2>
<p>Images of faces in profile pictures are an important source of identification on social media, but names and user names continue to be the main way people are identified. </p>
<p>Because of this, anonymity and pseudonyms are key to any compartmentalisation strategies. </p>
<p>When search engines, networks, connections and tags figure so prominently in the experience of social media, using a name other than the one identifying you publicly is often the main way of maintaining contextual integrity. </p>
<p>Pseudonyms have a rich history of being used to communicate politically, creatively, and playfully. They are often used to segregate audiences. Mathematician Charles Dodgson, for instance, wrote children’s books under the pen name <a href="https://www.biography.com/writer/lewis-carroll">Lewis Carroll</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man floats in a bath." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356244/original/file-20200903-18-2ylrej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using a pseudonym, people can keep parts of their lives separate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hisu lee/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A pseudonym for a sexy social media account, or to use as a porn performer or sex worker, does similar identity work of compartmentalising. </p>
<p>As porn star Conner Habib explains, creating a name is creating an identity, one that protects him as a porn performer from complicated and sometimes discriminatory entanglements. Habib’s porn name reflects his Irish and Syrian heritage, and introduces a Middle Eastern name to porn, an element he recognises as underrepresented. </p>
<p>Habib titled an essay “<a href="https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/9274">The name of your first pet and the street you grew up on</a>”, a common method for identifying a pseudonym that would work for a porn star. He also has highlighted a common refrain. “What’s your real name?” is often asked of porn performers as a way of demanding intimacy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-porntropreneur-even-hustlers-need-side-hustles-in-the-gig-economy-129067">The rise of the ‘porntropreneur’: even hustlers need side hustles in the gig economy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Choosing a name is an assertion of power: one highly successful Finnish porn performer is known as Rakel Liekki, which translates in English to “Rachel Flame”.</p>
<p>Her chosen name is a character, media persona <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/pornification-9781845207045/">and brand</a>, as well as a way of separating her private life from her performing life. “Flame” conjures images of fire, heat, and a kind of primal, natural sexuality. </p>
<p>Using pseudonyms, porn performers and sex workers can be identifiable, and build a reputation while keeping their occupation private. </p>
<p>One insight that anonymous, intimate posts about sex provides us is that sharing sexual experiences and anxieties helps people feel less alone. </p>
<p>Last year, journalist Anna Borges published a list of anonymous insecurities about sex that people submitted to her through an online form in a BuzzFeed article: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/confessions-about-sex-shame-and-insecurity">37 confessions about sex that will make you feel less alone</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman stands near a neon sign. She stares at her phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356241/original/file-20200903-18-i0lfw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sharing anonymous stories about sexual experiences can help people connect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julia Viniczay/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The article includes confessions about being a virgin, wanting to experience anal pleasure as a straight man in a heterosexual marriage, <a href="https://www.sydneypelvicclinic.com.au/vaginismus-genito-pelvic-pain-disorder-gppd/">vaginismus</a> and female sexual dysfunction, asexuality, being pressured to make moaning noises during sex, and the way one’s own genitals look:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have been plagued for as long as I can remember with the fact that I don’t have a perfect little Barbie-type vagina. I have heard so many men make jokes (not about me directly) about “roast beef” vaginas, how long labia = loose/slutty vagina, etc. So for the most part, I avoid sex with new partners for fear of judgement or grossing them out completely.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Borges presented these confessions to reassure the reader they are not unique in worrying about sex: we all have personal issues and internalised media messages that can get in the way of positive sexual experiences. </p>
<p>Existing as posts to websites that sit outside, yet often flow through, social media, sex confession projects frame such confessions as a healthy way to find out what other people think and do in their intimate lives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-subcultures-are-collateral-damage-in-tumblrs-ban-on-adult-content-108169">Sexual subcultures are collateral damage in Tumblr’s ban on adult content</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another corner of Reddit features people disclosing sexual abuse in order to seek support in order to heal. Our colleague <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3234942">Nazanin Andalibi and her co-authors</a> found people posting about sexual abuse in subreddits designed for this purpose. </p>
<p>When people feel anonymous they are more likely to share personal and intimate information, and dedicated spaces for these disclosures coupled with a culture of pseudonyms have led to many people seeking support on these bulletin boards. </p>
<p>Many use a throwaway account rather than their persistent, pseudonymous Reddit username. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman's back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356243/original/file-20200903-16-x91l9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The internet may make people feel anonymous – but that isn’t always the case.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ekaterina Kuznetsova/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But pseudonymity is not foolproof. Even when people take care to hide their identity, others sometimes endeavour to find them out. </p>
<p>One NSFW Tumblr study participant told of a friend’s frightening experience. It is very common to post partial images of bodies on Tumblr – legs, a slice of torso, clavicles and breasts. </p>
<p>An obsessive follower had collected all of these slices of a woman’s body and assembled a bizarre Frankenstein image created from it. After figuring out the town where the woman lives from image metadata and other information, the follower sent the collage and this information to the Tumblr user. </p>
<p>While men posting images can also have obsessive stalkers and abusers, examples such as this one reflect widespread ideas of gendered shame. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man leans against his reflection in a mirror." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356246/original/file-20200903-22-3iq14z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is the person you are on the internet your alter ego, or just yourself?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francisco Andreotti/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The shame that is evoked when girls and women participate in sexy identity practices works to shift responsibility from the person (usually a man) who violated trust by taking the sexy selfies out of context. The shame is redirected towards the woman who dared to be sexy or naked to a select audience.</p>
<h2>You, or not you</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Book cover reading: sex and social media" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356234/original/file-20200903-14-1b03wiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether or not a social media account is an “alter ego” depends on how its creator thinks about it. </p>
<p>For some, the online sexual self expresses a completely different persona to the Facebook account they use to friend their colleagues, high school buddies and netball group. </p>
<p>For others, it’s considered an extension of that person; the difference between what they do in the office and the bedroom. </p>
<p>One interviewee said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think a lot of people think that when they follow social media, they understand a person as a whole, but really, any social media thing is still a persona or a ratioed amount, or a curated element of a person. It’s not the entire person […] my whole self is not owed to a certain social media channel or to a certain following.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While “compartments” suggest neat boundaries, the reality is much leakier. </p>
<p>There’s plenty of play between public and private accounts – even when social media platforms would prefer people to sign up with one account for what they consider to be a singular, fixed identity.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Sex-and-Social-Media/?K=9781839094095">Sex and Social Media</a> by Katrin Tiidenberg and Emily van der Nagel, out now with Emerald.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whether on Twitter or Tumblr, Facebook or Reddit, people use many strategies to express their sexual selves.Emily van der Nagel, Lecturer in Social Media, Monash UniversityKatrin Tiidenberg, Associate Professor of Participatory Culture, Tallinn UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1164712019-05-17T10:44:43Z2019-05-17T10:44:43ZPolitical cartoonists are out of touch – it’s time to make way for memes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274721/original/file-20190515-60554-1ti5x8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not everyone possesses the skills to draw a cartoon, but pretty much anyone can make a meme.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lehr/The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New York Times came <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/28/media/ny-times-anti-semitic-cartoon/index.html">under fire</a> after a political cartoon appeared in print on April 25, 2019. In it, a blind President Donald Trump, wearing sunglasses and a yarmulke, is being led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s depicted as a guide dog with a Star of David around his neck.</p>
<p>The Times later <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/business/ny-times-anti-semitic-cartoon.html">issued an apology</a>, called the cartoon “anti-Semitic,” and announced that it would discipline the editor and enhance its bias training. The newspaper also indicated that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-drops-syndication-service-that-supplied-anti-semitic-cartoon">it will no longer use</a> the syndication service that supplied the cartoon. </p>
<p>To some, this might appear to be a significant move. But it fails to address larger problems with editorial cartooning – namely, the ranks of cartoonists are too white, too old and too male.</p>
<p><a href="https://newhouse.syr.edu/faculty-staff/jennifer-grygiel">As a scholar who studies social media and memetics</a>, I wonder if political cartoons are the best way to connect with today’s diverse readership. Many crave searing, cutting political commentary – and they’re finding it in internet memes. </p>
<p>What if internet memes were elevated – not only as a serious art form but also as an important form of editorializing that’s worthy of appearing alongside the traditional cartoon?</p>
<h2>Behind the times</h2>
<p>Newspapers and magazine editors <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-19193-2_11#citeas">still rely on political cartoons</a> to capture readers’ attention and to deliver some lighter material alongside heavier news stories. The need for this content isn’t going away, nor is the need for forms of communication that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218297">challenge governments and open up important public discussions</a> – a role the political cartoonist has long held.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Political cartoons have long been used to criticize – and mock – those in power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/declined-thanks-political-cartoon-pres-mckinley-787304683?src=EOtdwfByBqm6RQIYpyTUoQ-1-0">Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in many ways, political cartooning can seem like a relic of a bygone era. </p>
<p>A 2015 Washington Post report also underscored the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/12/29/in-a-tamir-rice-era-why-are-there-no-staff-black-cartoonists-to-comment/">lack of diversity among political cartoonists in newsrooms</a>, noting how not a single black individual was employed as one.</p>
<p>Then there’s journalism’s top prize, the Pulitzer. </p>
<p>An extensive <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/100_years_of_data.php">2016 study by the Columbia Journalism Review</a> unveiled how the ranks of editorial cartoon Pulitzer winners have been largely dominated by white men. Since 1922, only two women have received a Pulitzer in this category, and it wasn’t awarded to an African American until this year, when syndicated cartoonist Darrin Bell became the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/714073919/pulitzer-prize-winner-darrin-bell-on-how-trayvon-martins-death-inspired-his-work">first to receive the award</a>. </p>
<p>One roadblock to diversifying the ranks of political cartoonists is that the potential pool of candidates is limited. Few have the technical skill to draw pen-and-ink drollery, the common style for political cartooning. </p>
<p>Another has to do with industry trends. A 2017 study found that <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218297">many newspapers don’t even employ an editorial cartoonist anymore</a>. Instead, they’ve come to rely on less expensive syndication services. </p>
<h2>A more democratic form</h2>
<p>Given the important function of the political cartoon, simply discontinuing their use serves no one, including publishers. </p>
<p>But the field’s high barrier to entry – not to mention the time it takes to actually produce a cartoon – clearly poses a problem. A new, quicker and more inclusive solution to political commentary is needed.</p>
<p>The political cartoon is technically a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme">meme</a>, which is simply any piece of culture that can be copied or replicated. </p>
<p>A different sort of political cartoon, the internet meme, dominates on social media. Often crudely constructed, they’re far easier to create than, say, your typical New Yorker political cartoon. Many simply appear as a photo with text overlay, something that can be made within a few minutes via an online meme generator or mobile app. But the lack of technical skill needed means that they’re democratic in nature – and those that resonate the best will get shared the most and rise to the top. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Btjl6eJg3Y-","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>A new common meme format simply entails brief, humorous, text-based commentary. Words are memes, after all, and they can be used to communicate ideas very quickly and clearly, which avoids some of the issues with visual rhetoric such as misinterpretation or misrepresentation – the exact sort of thing that happened with The New York Times cartoon. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1118208511975075841"}"></div></p>
<h2>Memers of the world, unite!</h2>
<p>Cartooning is undoubtedly a skilled art form. But in 2019, an ugly internet meme that uses a screen grab from “The Office” and quippy text overlay can have just as much clout – if not more – than a sophisticated political cartoon. </p>
<p>Internet memes increasingly play a role in politics and even have the power to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ira-propaganda-senate-report/">influence elections</a>. Facebook groups with hundreds of thousands of followers are dedicated entirely to propagating and spreading political internet memes, such as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/02/23/how-bernie-sanders-became-the-lord-of-dank-memes/">Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/godemperortrumpofficial/">God Emperor Trump</a>. </p>
<p>Politics has become, in many ways – as campaign strategist Doyle Canning put it – “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/09/technology/political-memes-go-mainstream.html">a battle of the memes</a>.”</p>
<p>Some publishers and media outlets understand the value of user-generated content in political discourse and news gathering. For example, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwyCDUsFoOF/">BuzzFeed</a> occasionally posts lighthearted political internet memes on its social media platforms that speak to a younger audience. The Associated Press employs <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2012/new-editor-fergus-bell-explains-how-ap-verifies-user-generated-content-from-sandy-to-syria/">user-generated content editors</a> who comb social media platforms for important images associated with news events. </p>
<p>Memers, meanwhile, are beginning to see their role in driving internet traffic – and ad revenue – and are beginning to formalize their work and employment as content creators. They’re even beginning to organize, with some groups <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/22/18507941/instagram-meme-union">seeking union status</a>. It’s possible that new syndication services may develop for political memes out of these efforts. </p>
<p>But there have been few signs of anyone printing a meme in a physical newspaper or magazine unless it’s controversial enough to become the topic of a news story. To serve print needs, what if publishers hired staff memers or freelance memers – individuals with a pulse for viral content and an understanding of what resonates with younger readers, who could construct stylized, more professional-looking memes that could appear in print and on the web?</p>
<p>Again, this isn’t to say that traditional political cartoons no longer have a role. But it’s time for publishers to anoint the internet meme as worthy of publication. </p>
<p>After all, the best political commentary is just as likely to be found on Tumblr as the pages of the Times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Grygiel owns a small number of shares in the following social media companies: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Alibaba, LinkedIn, YY and Snap.</span></em></p>With sharp political commentary just as likely to be found on Tumblr as in the pages of the Times, why aren’t the best internet memes being published in the nation’s top periodicals?Jennifer Grygiel, Assistant Professor of Communications (Social Media) & Magazine, News and Digital Journalism, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1092162019-02-03T17:55:49Z2019-02-03T17:55:49ZFairy-tale social media fantasies can demolish your confidence, but it’s not all bad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256471/original/file-20190130-42594-wkv4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C572%2C4499%2C2417&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sometimes faking it on Instagram is just fine. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bruno Gomiero/ Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If social media was a person, you’d probably avoid them.</p>
<p>Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are loaded with pictures of people going to exotic places, looking like they are about to be on the cover of <em>Vogue</em>, and otherwise living a fairy-tale existence. And, like all fairy tales, these narratives feel a lot like fiction.</p>
<p>When you compare the “projected reality” to your lived experience, it would be easy to conclude that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tricia_Yurak/publication/288381712_The_phenomenology_of_the_impostor_phenomenon/links/571f5dbf08aefa64889a7241.pdf">you do not measure up.</a> Research shows that young adults are especially vulnerable to this <a href="https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/">phenomenon.</a> </p>
<p>We have also studied this trend in graduate students, our next generation of scholars: they too, implicitly compare themselves to their peers, sometimes <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/project/Motivation-Wellness-and-Thriving">automatically</a>. We’re socially trained to do this as shown by a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298860600805325">litany of research studies</a> exploring our relationships with other’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144516300912">projected images</a>.</p>
<p>These implicit comparisons can threaten your <a href="http://doi.apa.org/journals/amp/55/1/68.html">innate psychological needs</a>: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Not just one of them. <a href="https://www.unicef.org/stories/social-media-bad-teens-mental-health">ALL OF THEM</a>. And such comparisons have shifted life online towards an unwinnable competition. </p>
<p>We are outnumbered and out-posted by other people and it can make us feel unequivocally terrible if we let it. It’s never been easier to be insecure about ourselves and our achievements thanks to the ever-present torrent of “updates” posted by mostly well-meaning people seeking opportunities for connection and validation.</p>
<h2>Where did this come from?</h2>
<p>Social media fills our days, but it hasn’t always. In fact, the birth of sites and apps like the micro-blogging platform <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/founder-stories-why-david-karp-started-tumblr-blogs-dont-work-for-most-people/">Tumblr</a> (2007), the bite-sized conversation builder <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/history-of-twitter-3288854">Twitter</a> (2006) and star-studded <a href="https://www.inc.com/30under30/2011/profile-kevin-systrom-mike-krieger-founders-instagram.html">Instagram</a> (2010) all arrived on the technology scene in tandem with the <a href="https://www.popsci.com/evolution-kindle">e-book revolution</a>. And yet, in just over a decade, these tools have exploded across our browsers, into our phones and onto our self-perceptions. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/6/25/17501224/instagram-facebook-snapchat-time-spent-growth-data">People appear to be spending an hour a day on various social media apps</a>, which doesn’t sound too rough if we assume everyone is only using one app. However, the tendency for younger users to embrace multiple social media apps (and to access their accounts multiple times a day) is <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/">increasing</a>.</p>
<p>What that means for many of us is that we are spending hours each day connected and consuming content, from short tweets to beautifully staged <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bookstagram-how-readers-changed-the-way-we-use-instagram_us_59f0aaa2e4b01ecaf1a3e867">#bookstagram</a> images to painstakingly crafted selfies that sometimes make it seem like our friends are living the glamorous life, even when they’re waking up before dawn to take care of their little ones. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Bstn-T9FozD","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Social media presences are not inherently fake, but some people interacting in these spaces feel pressure to perform. And that’s not always bad! </p>
<p>As argued by <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are">Amy Cuddy</a>, sometimes it’s helpful to pretend we are who we want to be in order to give ourselves the confidence to grow into our futures. There’s a rich history to <a href="https://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/2004/04/the-power-of-acting-as-if.aspx">“acting as if”</a> in spiritual and growth-oriented spaces. But there’s a line between “fake it till you become it” and spending the <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/a9619808/how-to-become-instagram-famous-experiment/">afternoon shooting awkward photos to gain more “likes.”</a></p>
<h2>Dark point of the soul</h2>
<p>After conducting about 60 interviews and 2,500 surveys across two ongoing studies of post-secondary students, the findings indicate that being constantly compared to other people can demolish our confidence <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328203318_Title_The_price_of_admission_Examining_how_expectancies_and_values_can_overcome_innovation's_costs">quickly</a>. </p>
<p>For example, one first-year PhD student told us: “I feel like a failure because I don’t have any papers out and I haven’t won a major scholarship like the rest of my lab group.” A first-year student?! </p>
<p>Another commented: “All my peers are better than me, why am I even here?” </p>
<p>These are high-performing thinkers, and yet their confidence is being steamrolled in part because social media does not facilitate fair comparisons.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256472/original/file-20190130-124043-k49fvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being constantly compared to other people is not good for us.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pj Accetturo / Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We wish these experiences were unique to certain contexts, but they are ubiquitous. We’ve become so used to seeing the world through social media that we give it <a href="https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/245/False-Equivalence">false equivalence</a> with our lived experience. We implicitly compare our lives against the sensation of social media and consider it a fair contention. </p>
<p>Of course, the mundane doesn’t measure up to social media. Social media posts need to be epic to be shared.</p>
<p>Hardly anyone posts a “meh” status update; our social media posts are typically at one extreme or another, good or bad, and we are left to compare our individual realities with an exceptional anecdote devoid of context. It’s all of the sugar, with none of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46827426">the fibre</a>. </p>
<h2>It’s not all a pit of despair</h2>
<p>Despite this relatively grim picture, the way we’re performing on social media isn’t entirely destructive. For starters, <a href="https://www.scarymommy.com/ignoring-your-facebook-posts/">the awareness that we all seem to have about the inauthentic presentations</a> of people’s lives that we consume online (and the painful comparisons that often follow) has also spawned subversively creative acts of satire. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256467/original/file-20190130-110834-35nkss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘It’s Like They Know Us’ posts stock photos with captions.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One example comes from “<a href="http://itsliketheyknowus.com/">It’s Like They Know Us</a>,” a blog/book/parenting subculture that’s built around taking stock images of families and providing captions that poke fun of the impossible standards these images perpetuate. And articles like the recent <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/a9619808/how-to-become-instagram-famous-experiment/">“How to Become Instagram Famous Experiment</a>” remind us all that behind the carefully cultivated images rests a series of failed attempts and sometimes ridiculous efforts to capture the perfect shot.</p>
<p>There’s a perverse kind of creativity that our image-saturated web presence has spawned. And as often as we fall into the destructive cycle of comparing our messy, authentic lives to the snapshots of perfection that we see online, we just as often step back and laugh at how silly it all is. </p>
<p>Perhaps we’re merely playing along; isn’t it fun to think, just for a moment, that somewhere out there, someone is really living their best life? And maybe, just maybe, if we arrange our books in an artful composition or capture a stunning selfie on the 10th attempt, maybe we will be able to see the beauty that exists in each of our imperfectly messy, chaotic, authentic realities beyond the picture. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s good for us to “act as if,” as long as we remember that the content we share and engage with online is only a fraction of our real stories. Remember, even fairy tales have a grain of truth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleftherios Soleas receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as generous support from Queen's and its Faculty of Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jen McConnel receives funding from Queen's University, specifically the Faculty of Education. </span></em></p>Consuming too much social media when users end up comparing their lives to others more glamorous can leave one with bad feelings say researchers. But pretending or fantasizing is not all bad either.Eleftherios Soleas, PhD Candidate in Education, Queen's University, OntarioJen McConnel, PhD Student in Education, Queen's University, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1082152018-12-06T22:35:06Z2018-12-06T22:35:06ZWhy Tumblr’s ban on adult content is bad for LGBTQ youth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249095/original/file-20181205-186064-znm157.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tumblr's new rules will likely shut much of the LGBTQ youth activity. Here a chaptered LGBTQ youth themed comic on Tumblr. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://scroll.in/magazine/820758/tamil-muslim-queer-a-new-webcomic-is-making-waves-on-tumblr">Akshay Varaham</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As of Dec. 17, Tumblr will no longer allow “<a href="https://tumblr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/231885248-Sensitive-content">adult content</a>,” defined as that which shows “real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content — including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations — that depicts sex acts.” </p>
<p>Before this, the platform’s lenient policies contrasted significantly with those of Facebook and Instagram, which have stricter content moderation guidelines.</p>
<p>This update follows <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18104366/tumblr-ios-app-child-pornography-removed-from-app-store">the removal of Tumblr’s app from Apple’s app store</a> after child pornography was found on the platform. However, it also reflects broader changes following <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/13/verizon-closes-4-5b-acquisition-of-yahoo-marissa-mayer-resigns-memo/">Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo, Tumblr’s parent company</a>. </p>
<p>Katrin Tiidenberg, a researcher who has studied self-expression on Tumblr, conjectures that this change may have <a href="https://qz.com/1482821/tumblr-is-banning-porn-and-other-adult-content/?fbclid=IwAR3jp5ey6pBjeHkS7zuK2En4AgOLnBPSDvMY1wJDtovZiqH0f6XFCDv7MyA">more to do with advertising sales than protecting users</a>. Regardless of Tumblr’s motives, this update will seriously affect LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) youth who rely on Tumblr and its communities for self-discovery and support.</p>
<h2>‘Safer’ online spaces</h2>
<p>Since LGBTQ identities have often been stigmatized, the internet has been pivotal in helping those with diverse gender and sexual identities learn about themselves and find each other. Tumblr has provided a safe space for this through <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444814530095?journalCode=nmsa">many of its key features</a> (e.g. pseudonymous accounts, reblogging) and the communities it attracts. </p>
<p>Given this, it’s not surprising that a large Australian survey found <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-something-queer-about-tumblr-73520">LGBTQ youth use Tumblr much more frequently</a> than the rest of the population. Many respondents indicated content on Tumblr broadened their understanding of sexuality and gender and facilitated self-acceptance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249094/original/file-20181205-186076-jhdl73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tumblr logo is displayed at Nasdaq in New York in July 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tumblr has served as an essential outlet for LGBTQ youth <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444817744784">in relation to other popular platforms</a>. Alexander Cho, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Irvine, has written about Tumblr’s “<a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fwhgBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA43&dq=info:iDBYz-2X89cJ:scholar.google.com&ots=R0eH_nlm8L&sig=UYbWnpPprhl2FuSkM8D5YW4viSY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">queer ecosystem</a>” where “users circulate porn, flirt, provide support to deal with homophobia as well as advice on coming out…” Cho has found that queer youth of colour experience Facebook as a space of “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444817744784">default publicness</a>” and prefer Tumblr for sharing intimate and personal content.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/porn-not-to-blame-for-public-health-issues-82116">Porn not to blame for public health issues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>LGBTQ people have also found Tumblr to be powerful for self-representation. Through sophisticated <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15295036.2015.1130846">hashtagging practices</a>, transgender people share art, stories and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476413505002">engage in dialogue</a> that challenges cisgender norms. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-it-mean-to-be-cisgender-103159">Explainer: what does it mean to be 'cisgender'?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Researcher Tim Highfield and I have explored how <a href="https://spir.aoir.org/index.php/spir/article/view/1092">sharing queer GIFs</a> – short, looping media — not only allows LGBTQ youth to engage in Tumblr’s fan communities but also playfully displays queer culture <em>en masse</em>. This broad representation of LGBTQ identities may dissuade homophobic harassment, as some of the <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/111892/">queer women I’ve interviewed</a> perceive less discrimination on Tumblr.</p>
<h2>What’s porn got to do with it?</h2>
<p>Porn is a portion of the multiple forms of media resonating among LGBTQ users. This media allows them to knit together non-mainstream identities and survive in a world where heterosexuality is ubiquitously portrayed across social media and broadcast outlets.</p>
<p>Not all LGBTQ content contains genitals, “female-presenting nipples” or sex acts, but not all content with these elements constitutes what we would generally think of as pornography. Much of the sexualized content circulated among LGBTQ Tumblr users make available depictions of sexuality that are frequently rendered invisible or marginalized. </p>
<p>These can take the form of fan art, remixed film clips of sensual embraces and selfies. This media allows LGBTQ people to see themselves as sexual beings — something that is particularly important for young people developing a sense of sexual and gender identity.</p>
<p>Even if you disagree with teenagers accessing this type of content, Tumblr’s new policy bans it for everyone regardless of age. Formerly, users could voluntarily mark their blogs as “NSFW” (Not Safe for Work) if they posted occasional nudity and “adult” if posting substantial nudity. This provided <a href="http://culturedigitally.org/2013/07/tumblr-nsfw-porn-blogging-and-the-challenge-of-checkpoints/">a sort of checkpoint</a> to hinder younger users in accessing this content. </p>
<p>Now even adults won’t be able to access “adult content.” This means that young people over 18, who may be facing formative life changes, like starting post-secondary education or moving away from home, won’t have access to media that may help them learn about their identity and feel supported while doing so.</p>
<h2>Commercial platforms shape culture</h2>
<p>Strict content moderation policies tend to have negative outcomes for already marginalized users. In my research with Jean Burgess and Nicolas Suzor, we found that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354856518781530">some queer women experienced Instagram’s content moderation as overly stringent.</a></p>
<p>Instagram asks users to report content and responds through automated mechanisms. Therefore, queer women’s content was subject to removal based on other users’ whims and the banning of certain hashtags like #lesbian. Tumblr’s new updates promise a similar mixture of user reporting and automated content detection tools.</p>
<p>Several scholars have begun to critically examine how <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300173130/custodians-internet">platforms’ decisions shape our social and cultural norms</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.ppforum.ca/publications/poisoning-democracy-what-can-be-done-about-harmful-speech-online/">Chris Tenove, Heidi Tworek and Fenwick McKelvey</a> have pointed out that content moderation is not standardized and lacks federal oversight. Platforms often apply content moderation categories, such as “adult content,” without transparency or accountability. </p>
<p>Tumblr’s <a href="https://staff.tumblr.com/post/180758987165/a-better-more-positive-tumblr">CEO, Jeff D’Onofrio, said</a>: “There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community.” </p>
<p>It seems that with this new change, youth who want to encounter sexual content will need to relocate. While some young people may turn to pornography sites, many of these sites are not designed with diverse sexual and gender identities in mind. </p>
<p>Youth entering these sites may be more likely to encounter stigmatized, stereotypical and demeaning representations of women and transgender people. Even LGBTQ-friendly pornography sites don’t have the elaborate community networks unique to Tumblr. </p>
<p>Such communities help youth to make sense of sexual content in relation to who they are becoming as they grow up. Tumblr’s decision means LGBTQ youth will have one less outlet where they can learn about sexual identity and gain support from peers who are like them and sharing content for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefanie Duguay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>LGBTQ youth use Tumblr more frequently than others. The platform has provided a safe space for youth to explore sexual identities and find crucial support. A new regulating policy may change all that.Stefanie Duguay, Assistant Professor, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/735202017-05-29T04:52:17Z2017-05-29T04:52:17ZThere’s something queer about Tumblr<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167663/original/file-20170503-4104-jp4d4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More young people are turning online for peer support networks.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a> is a site that can leave many adults confused. But for more than <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/about">330 million users</a> worldwide it is a visual medium for self-expression where anything from politics to <a href="https://thedailyfandom.com/tumblr-and-fandom-a-match-made-in-heaven/">fan groups</a> goes. </p>
<p>What makes Tumblr special is the mix of content you will find there. Think of it as the long-form, image-centric version of Twitter – but more personal. A blog can feature sentences that describe a user’s day, and this could be scattered among photo sets of refugees being rescued at sea, cat gifs, pornography, or complex paragraphs that analyse Donald Trump’s presidency. Above all, Tumblr characterises itself as a space of creative freedom. </p>
<p>Like most other social media platforms, it is also ripe with peer networking, community building, and opportunities to explore gender and sexual identities. And despite the panic that often surrounds the perceived effects of social media on young people – such as fears about <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10881596/Young-people-give-up-privacy-on-Google-and-Facebook-because-they-havent-read-1984.html">Facebook and privacy</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2970594/Snapchat-cracks-sexting-teens-telling-clothes-issues-safety-guide-concerned-parents.html">Snapchat and sexting</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/17/i-narcissist-vanity-social-media-and-the-human-condition">Instagram and narcissism</a> – Tumblr is often left out of the debate.</p>
<p>Perhaps that’s because it mostly appeals to a niche audience, and can be seen as the “weird” cousin of these major platforms. This makes it a perfect venue for queer and questioning youth to hang out.</p>
<h2>It’s a queer world</h2>
<p>In 2016, we organised a research project called <a href="https://scrollingbeyondbinaries.com/about/">Scrolling Beyond Binaries</a> to explore the ways young people of diverse genders and sexualities use social media. We looked particularly at how young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) people use the network. To do so, we surveyed over 1,300 people aged 16-35 who identified in these ways. </p>
<p>Compared to <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/">broader</a> <a href="https://www.sensis.com.au/asset/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2016.PDF">surveys</a> of young people’s social media use, we found young LGBTIQA+ people are using Tumblr much more frequently. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159966/original/image-20170308-24226-kvbbtg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queer and gender diverse youth in Australia are using Tumblr more than their straight and cisgender peers.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are some issues in comparing these studies – the number of people surveyed, where they lived, and their ages – but that 64% of our respondents used Tumblr is noteworthy. </p>
<p>So why are this many young queer and gender diverse Australians using Tumblr? For many, it offers an <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476413505002">intricate network</a> that supports safe explorations of identity and a sense of self.</p>
<p>For instance, writer and Tumblr user <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/24/tumblr-was-my-saviour-it-made-me-see-i-wasnt-monstrous-and-unloveable">Jonno Revanche</a> said it provides social connections that are otherwise unavailable due to geographic isolation and social anxiety. Others have used Tumblr to foster mental health support, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/19/tumblr-mental-health-information-community-disorders-healthcare">Mea Pearson</a>, who took to the platform to chronicle her experience with borderline personality disorder.</p>
<p>While care must be taken when associating mental health with queer identity, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/30513356/Social_Media_Bodies_Revealing_the_Entanglement_of_Sexual_Well-being_Mental_Health_and_Social_Media_in_Education">these matters often intersect</a>. Evidently, many young people’s everyday dealings with key social institutions like family, work and school can be uncomfortable or even traumatic.</p>
<h2>The view from Tumblr</h2>
<p>Many of our respondents said that Tumblr was crucial to nurturing their individual identity. One person said it helped them identify as <a href="http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/Agender">agender</a> (loosely defined as without gender).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I actually learnt about agender and all the other genders from Tumblr. (20, agender, bisexual, rural)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One participant described how Tumblr assisted them in coming to terms with their <a href="https://minus18.org.au/index.php/resources/sexuality-info/item/647-bisexual-vs-pansexual">pansexuality</a> (attraction to all genders), and finding a space where this was more accepted and not reduced to bisexuality:<br>
</p><p></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I came out as Pan on Tumblr a few years ago, when being Pan was seen as just a fancy way of saying Bi. I felt very alone for a long time, but found other Pan people to talk to. (22, non-binary, pansexual, urban)</p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><p></p>
<p>Other participants attributed Tumblr to broadening their overall understanding of identity:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had no idea that lgbt+ people existed (my parents are quite homophobic and very strict, so you could say I was very sheltered), and by using Tumblr I was able to fully immerse myself within its very lgbt+ culture. It also brought up words … I had never heard before, and through this I was able to “find myself” within a safe environment. (17, female, lesbian, urban)</p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><p></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would’ve never realised my real gender or sexual orientation without tumblr. (25, trans masculine, asexual, regional)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For many Tumblr users, the platform is a supportive place. Engaging with online peer networks can be easier, and less risky, than talking to close friends. Young people reported making friends on Tumblr too, and most of them felt safe in doing so, citing the ability to block and unfollow others if needed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve made a lot of friends through there, and Tumblr helped me working out my own sexuality when I was younger. Because when I was younger I didn’t know anything, I thought there was just gay and lesbian and when I didn’t fit into any of those categories I was like “what the hell do I do now.” It was honestly, like going on Tumblr and [finding] there’s this thing where you can like more then one, I was like “woah, that’s amazing.” (19, trans male, queer, urban)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Disconnecting from Tumblr</h2>
<p>At the same time, these digital spaces come with their own challenges. Although Tumblr is often used daily, it also seems to have a limited lifespan – which is unsurprising, given the intensity of interaction and content that many users report. Some respondents discussed their need to disconnect from the site to avoid drama, to free up time, or to spend more time in other social media spaces.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I stopped [using Tumblr] because I often used it to talk about my problems and it got to be really upsetting to have such a negative space. I feel like it just fed my mental health issues. (18, non-binary, bisexual, rural)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In this sense, Tumblr can be productive for a time but it can also become overwhelming. Users manage this by moving between platforms and taking breaks.</p>
<h2>Safe spaces</h2>
<p>At a time when young queer and gender diverse people are in the spotlight, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">support programs coming under fire</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-administration-rolls-back-protections-for-transgender-students/2017/02/22/550a83b4-f913-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html?utm_term=.309c6b1d77e9">human rights being trampled upon</a> in political crossfires, they continue to find and build their own safe spaces. </p>
<p>LGBTIQA+ young people should feel safe and empowered in everyday physical spaces, and many do – often with support from a wider community of peers who share similar experiences.</p>
<p>But until the world becomes more friendly for queer and gender diverse people, we expect they’ll continue to find safety, community, identity, and friendship on Tumblr.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brady Robards is a member of The Australian Sociological Association (tasa.org.au).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Byron does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tumblr might the weird cousin of the other social media platforms, but it also makes a safe space for queer kids to hang out and understand their sexuality.Paul Byron, Associate Lecturer, Macquarie UniversityBrady Robards, Lecturer in Sociology, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/550092016-03-08T11:10:37Z2016-03-08T11:10:37ZCan you sue if someone posts an unflattering photo of you on social media?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114120/original/image-20160307-31281-1ea4lld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How could they post that of me?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=349497452">Woman image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Open your Twitter or Instagram account and chances are good somewhere in there you may see an unflattering photo of a stranger. It’s become increasingly common to share pictures of people we don’t know online.</p>
<p>And it could happen to you. Imagine, for example, rolling out of bed and heading to the store to pick up a much-needed item. Your hair is unkempt and you’re wearing last night’s pajamas, but you’re unconcerned because certainly no one will notice you. Unbeknownst to you, someone you don’t know takes your photo and posts it on social media, perhaps including cruel language or tagging an account like <a href="http://www.wmagazine.com/people/2014/02/jarvis-derrell-she-has-had-it/photos/">She Has Had It</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/PeopleofWalmart">People of Walmart</a> which feature and mock unappealing pictures of strangers. </p>
<p>Hundreds of people like, share and comment on this photo of you – do you have any legal recourse against anyone? Having taught and researched Internet law, I believe the evolving online legal landscape may answer yes.</p>
<p>Lawsuits about these kinds of photos tend to turn on a person’s right of publicity, which limits the commercial use of one’s name, image, likeness and/or identity. The outcome of <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3423835/DWTS-Val-Chmerkovskiy-sued-6M-Syndrome-girl-controversial-internet-meme-posted-Facebook.html">current cases</a> could rein in this common posting practice.</p>
<h2>An online Shaq attack</h2>
<p>In April 2014, sports commentator and former star athlete Shaquille O’Neal posted a Photoshopped image on his Twitter and Instagram accounts of himself side-by-side with Jahmel Binion. He captioned the picture “SMILE PEOPLE.”</p>
<p>Binion, who was 23 years old at the time, suffers from ectodermal dysplasia, which has left him with a disfigured appearance. In the photo, O’Neal contorted his facial features in an attempt to make a face similar to Binion’s. The social media post received more than 17,000 “likes” and more than 700 comments (many of which were rude or offensive) on Twitter alone.</p>
<p>Based on this activity, <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2138&context=historical">Binion sued O’Neal in a Florida federal court</a> for, among other things, something called “appropriation,” which is essentially a right of publicity claim. The basic idea is that you can stop others from using your name, likeness or identity for commercial gain. The Florida court recently denied O’Neal’s motion to dismiss the claim, which means that Binion can continue with the case against O’Neal.</p>
<h2>Right of publicity, in the social media universe</h2>
<p>So does this right of publicity protect you from having someone post a harmful image of you on social media?</p>
<p>Because the right of publicity is based on state law, the parameters of the right vary significantly by jurisdiction. Roughly 30 states recognize claims based on the right of publicity through statute, common law or both. Most of these states extend the right of publicity to all people, not just celebrities or other famous individuals.</p>
<p>Though there is a lack of uniformity regarding its application, the most common requirements include a person:</p>
<p>1) using another’s name, identity, likeness or persona without consent in a way that causes harm; and</p>
<p>2) receiving some kind of benefit or advantage based on that use.</p>
<p>In the social media universe, it probably won’t be hard to show that a person is harmed when their image is used without permission, especially where cruel or offensive language is used.</p>
<p>The question of the benefit or advantage obtained, however, will be more difficult to prove and has historically thwarted Internet suits of this kind.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114122/original/image-20160307-31263-10j7wua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How do all those eyeballs on your image benefit the social media account owner?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=283722398">Man image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
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<h2>What’s in it for the poster?</h2>
<p>With the rapid rise in ubiquity of social media platforms, attorneys have grappled with applying traditional right of publicity law to new frontiers like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and Twitter.</p>
<p>Everyone’s still trying to figure out the benefit received from using a stranger’s photo online. In one recent case, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2449132774919250154&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">Fraley v. Facebook, Inc.</a>, Facebook found itself in a right of publicity lawsuit based on its use of the Sponsored Stories advertising feature. </p>
<p>These are paid ads featuring the names and pictures of Facebook users based on their past Facebook activities and “likes.” Though the suit against Facebook ultimately settled, the right of publicity claims survived – the plaintiffs could show a clear connection between the value of their unauthorized endorsements to their Facebook friends and the benefit Facebook gained by using their photos.</p>
<p>While the commercial advantage may be clear in a case like Fraley, where Facebook received money for their ads with people’s pictures and likes, the Binion scenario is more challenging. O’Neal’s post, though widely shared and liked, did not provide a direct commercial benefit to him. Most states require that the defendant received some commercial or monetary benefit. </p>
<p>Some legal authorities, however, state that the right of publicity is <a href="https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/privacy/Privacy_R2d_Torts_Sections.htm">not limited to purely commercial benefits</a>. The victim’s right of publicity claim may survive even if the offending party does not receive money or other benefit. </p>
<p>In fact, in Binion, the court suggested that the fact that O’Neal’s post generated significant social media interest and was widely viewed and shared could meet the benefit standard. All those “likes” and “favorites” are a currency all their own. Social media users, therefore, could be exposed to legal liability for posting pictures of strangers under such a theory. </p>
<p>With no uniform body of law to reference, social media users remain susceptible to right of publicity claims. Individuals and companies who use social media to connect with others must be mindful of such uncharted territory and create social media strategies that <a href="http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/marlon-wayans-wins-dismissal-of-actors-lawsuit-over-cleveland-brown-tweet-1201393049/">mitigate their risk of liability</a>. Otherwise, posting photos – particularly unflattering ones – of strangers will continue to expose users to such risks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shontavia Johnson is the founder and owner of Jackson Johnson LLC law firm, an innovative online law firm for entrepreneurs, and Johnson International Group, an entrepreneurial consulting firm.</span></em></p>The legal system is working out how much of an exclusive right you have to commercial use of your own name, image, likeness or identity – and online that doesn’t just mean in an ad.Shontavia Johnson, Associate Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/269962014-06-04T12:12:46Z2014-06-04T12:12:46ZHard-to-please ‘fauxsumers’ pin it and save it but rarely buy it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50135/original/xhwzfm67-1401812723.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many trolleys have been reduced to roaming the countryside in search of work.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickwilken/5950625276/sizes/l">Patrick Wilkin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since there were shops, people have enjoyed window shopping. But a new phenomenon is emerging that takes the habit to the extreme.</p>
<p>If you save things to your Amazon wishlist without ever actually buying them, browse gadgets, clothes and offers online as a pastime or fill your shopping cart without going through with the payment, you may be a fauxsumer.</p>
<p>This “false consumerism”, particularly prevalent among millenials, is the process of discovering products online without purchasing anything. Shopping without having the goal of actually buying. </p>
<p>The rise of fauxsumerism was revealed in a <a href="http://www.trendcentral.com/life/cassandra-report-digest-young-consumers-love-browsing-but-not-buying/">recent study</a> of 1,300 14-to-34-year olds in the US. These millenials, born between 1980 and 2000 are browsers rather than buyers. The report found they create wishlists, both to engage with brands and for fun, with no intention of actually buying. Sometimes they don’t have the money to make the purchase but save the item anyway. There is even the suggestion that these fauxsumers get the same kick out of saving an item as they would if they had bought it.</p>
<p>What started with the Amazon wishlist now plays out across mobile phone apps and social networking sites like Pinterest, where users curate pinboards of items they like as though that were their main goal, rather than actually owning anything on them.</p>
<p>Curating your fantasy buys on Pinterest or Tumblr offers you the thrill of shopping without having to pay anything. This collection and display of products in social media sites has become a way of expressing one’s tastes and projecting a “personal brand”. Entering luxury stores virtually allows you to “roam about” without having the feeling of insecurity that the products being displayed may be out of your reach.</p>
<p>However, the process of fauxmersism is not limited to millennials. <a href="http://www.accenture.com/us-en/outlook/Pages/outlook-journal-2013-who-are-millennial-shoppers-what-do-they-really-want-retail.aspx">The Accenture study</a> of 2013 conducted market research on the shopping behaviours of 6,000 consumers, including 1,707 millenials across eight countries. Although millennials are the first truly connected generation, the study found similarities between the way they shop and the way Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964) and Generation X (1965-1979) shop. Across all three demographics, 41% said they preferred “showrooming” –- looking at the merchandise in a retail store and then looking for it online to find the lowest price.</p>
<h2>Meeting new demands</h2>
<p>The fauxsumer certainly poses a challenge for the companies trying to sell goods. If customers get the same thrill out of putting an item on a list as they do from actually spending money on it, there is an obvious consequence. </p>
<p>All is not lost for shops though, they just need to adapt. The Accenture study also found that although millenials value online channels when checking out reviews, ratings and prices, they still prefer to visit bricks-and-mortar stores where they can touch an item, smell it and pick it up.</p>
<p>The findings also challenged the myth that millennials are not loyal customers. In fact, they seek a personalised memorable experience where their purchase or interaction is valued and they expect to receive targeted offers and discounts via email or post in return for their custom. That said, it turns out that they “like” a retailer’s Facebook page more often with the goal of keeping abreast of offers and news than to express an actual attachment to the brand.</p>
<p>Retailers need to convert browsers into buyers and should think smart to make that happen. Bricks-and-mortar retailers should include mobile devices in their in-store experience. They might send real-time promotions to their customers’ phones as they browse or let them pay with their phone. Millennials expect integrated, seamless shopping, be it online or in store.</p>
<p>If shopping has become a source of entertainment for millenials, retailers need to take advantage of that and show customers a good time when they buy.</p>
<p>A bigger problem to solve is how to keep up with social media habits. Technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr are constantly evolving and users are moving around more than ever so retailers need to work out which is the best platform to use if they want to converse with customers, and adapt their strategies accordingly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shailey Minocha receives funding from UK's EPSRC, JISC, VITAE and Wolfson Foundation.</span></em></p>Ever since there were shops, people have enjoyed window shopping. But a new phenomenon is emerging that takes the habit to the extreme. If you save things to your Amazon wishlist without ever actually…Shailey Minocha, Reader in Computing, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145232013-05-22T04:24:11Z2013-05-22T04:24:11ZThe cost of cool: Yahoo swaps cash for cachet in Tumblr deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24237/original/qks6nfxt-1369186176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tumblr CEO David Karp is worth US$250 million after the sale of his popular blogging platform to Yahoo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This is the ultimate stuff of <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster&defid=2705928">hipster</a> dreams. Despite the protestations of user defections, Tumblr bloggers couldn’t help but be beguiled by the attentions of 37-year-old Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, whose company <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-20/internet-giant-yahoo-to-buy-blogging-website-tumblr-for-1-1bn/4701862">acquired the popular blogging platform</a> for US$1.1 billion. This is the parent they wished they had: educated, rich and chic-geek dressed. </p>
<p>Hipster Tumblr CEO David Karp, 26 years old and perhaps not so well educated (he didn’t finish high school), obviously thought so. But then, all of the other grown-ups, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sergey Brin, had turned down Karp’s approaches to buy this premier site of teenage hangouts.</p>
<p><strong>Tumblr brings traffic, mobile and a cooler image</strong></p>
<p>Mayer paid handsomely for the site, with US$250 million of the US$1.1 billion purchase price going to Karp. Mayer has also claimed that <a href="http://marissamayr.tumblr.com/post/50902274591/im-delighted-to-announce-that-weve-reached-an">she will keep the site as it is</a>, including the NSFW (not suitable for work) content (more on this later) and will “<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/us-tumblr-yahoo-idUSBRE94I0C120130520">not screw it up</a>”. </p>
<p>And why would she? Tumblr’s <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/02/tumblr-david-karps-800-million-art-project/">numbers</a> speak for themselves: 86 million blogs with 184 million unique visitors, and 12.1 billion pageviews last month. (However, it is worth taking some of these numbers with a pinch of salt – they vary greatly depending on the source.)</p>
<p>Tumblr is also set to make money this year. Not an astronomical amount, by any means: the site has had a limited amount of advertising on the site and does not generate significant revenue. But being part of Yahoo may provide more avenues for advertising and monetisation. </p>
<p>For Yahoo, survival comes first; money is a secondary concern. Survival depends on staying relevant and, for most companies that have made their business on the web, this means increasing your audience and succeeding on mobile. Growing one’s audience, especially the sort of audience that Tumblr brings, would have been next to impossible through Yahoo’s existing platforms.</p>
<p>The rapid move to mobile, especially in competing against Google and Facebook, has also presented a challenge. Some progress has been made. The mobile version of photo site Flickr has got the attention it needs and is starting to make headway, especially from threats posed by Instagram and its owner, Facebook. Tumblr’s extremely popular mobile applications again bring Yahoo a more immediate presence on that platform.</p>
<p><strong>Making money</strong></p>
<p>From the perspective of income, Tumblr’s <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/05/20/yahoos-tumblr-buy-fails-4-tests-of-a-successful-acquisition/">first quarter revenue</a> of US$13 million will, in all likelihood, leave them short of their target of US$100 million for this year. This may not matter so much in the short term, as Yahoo doesn’t really have to make much money from Tumblr to justify its purchase. It really only has to make more money than it would have done leaving the money in investments, which won’t be hard. The only thing lost is the potential opportunity of using the money to buy something more worthwhile.</p>
<p>What really matters are the users. They represent a potential goldmine of opportunities for Yahoo and Yahoo’s advertisers – at least in the short term.</p>
<p><strong>What about the content?</strong></p>
<p>Although not on the level of <a href="http://www.4chan.org/">4chan</a>, there is a great deal of pornography and other adult content on Tumblr, with <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/20/tumblrs-adult-fare-accounts-for-11-4-of-sites-top-200k-domains-tumblrs-adult-fare-accounts-for-11-4-of-sites-top-200k-domains-adults-sites-are-leading-category-of-referrals/">some estimates</a> putting it at around at least 11% of all of the blogs containing pornographic images and content. Of other types of undesirable content, Tumblr has acted in the past <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/tumblr-youtube-others-broadcast-teen-insecurity-for-all-to-see/2012/02/24/gIQAArtkXR_blog.html">to ban</a> pro-anorexia and self-harm blogs.</p>
<p>Part of the challenge that Yahoo faces in the short term is that any moves to act against unreasonable behaviour on Tumblr will be construed as evidence that somehow it is acting to clean up the content. This may change the character of the site for those who use it. Indeed, Yahoo may start getting pressured by advertisers to do so – especially if that is how Yahoo intends to drive revenues through the site.</p>
<p><strong>Will it work?</strong></p>
<p>It seems that at the moment, Mayer is doing all of the right things. So far, the proof is that Yahoo stock <a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/6-things-marissa-mayer-has-done-to-make-yahoo-cool-again-369548">has risen</a> 70% since she became CEO. The jury is still out whether she can completely turn Yahoo’s image around, even with the purchase of companies like Tumblr, but she has definitely stopped the downward trajectory Yahoo was on before she joined.</p>
<p>I suspect that the purchase of Tumblr will be seen as a smart move on Mayer’s part, eventually even by Tumblr’s bloggers. For the moment at least, some may need more <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/yahoo">convincing</a>. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This is the ultimate stuff of hipster dreams. Despite the protestations of user defections, Tumblr bloggers couldn’t help but be beguiled by the attentions of 37-year-old Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, whose…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.