Wednesday, April 11, 2012

On Tumblr and Blogs

A few days ago, I heard someone refer to a Tumblr as a blog. I hadn't thought of Tumblrs as blogs; they seemed to me to be to rather different entities. The pace of a Tumblr is quite different from that of a blog (as in, blogs like this one, on Blogger, Wordpress, etc.), isn't it? Tumblr is also primarily image based, while blogs are often more word based (although many blogs, particularly visual art blogs like photography blogs, portfolio blogs, or fashion blogs contain a high number of images). Much of the basis for Tumblr is 're-Tumbling' other posts; while re-blogging someone else's blog posts is not uncommon, I don't know many blogs whose sheer purpose is re-blogging. Most blog writers are blog writers because they like to write.

Don't get me wrong--I love Tumblr. I think Tumblr is a fantastic commercial success, and it is very interesting and quite fun. I just think that Tumblr (more of a microblogging service) serve a different purpose than blogs, so I find it interesting that the word blog is becoming synonymous to a Tumblr account.

The development of language is so fascinating!

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