Tumblr is weird because it's not something you really get into until you're into it, if that makes sense?
It's *not* the best website for communication. But it is the best website for getting a general sense of what everyone feels about something immediately/finding out new information/seeing pretty pictures/ego-boosting.
Here's how I started with tumblr: go to the main page, and you'll see you can enter a tag. I entered a tag for a fandom (glee!) a ship (klaine!) and a character I happen to like (blaine anderson!). Tags are...sort of like LJ communities, but not?
Like, picture this: every time someone makes a post on their own livejournal talking Glee, they tagged it. And when you click on that tag, you are seeing what everyone who has tagged Glee has to say about it. Which is a lot, and a little overwhelming, and a lot of it is crap. But then you notice one person has posted an opinion you really agree on, and you decide to check out their journal, and--what do you know!--you agree with them on a lot of things! So you decide to follow them so you can keep track of them and their posts, in the same way you would follow someone on LJ. So now whenever you open tumblr, you see whatever that person has posted, like you would on your friend's page.
Then you notice someone else on the tracked tag who draws fanart that you like, so you follow them. Then this other person writes really good fanfics, so you follow them. And this person is just quirky and you like their style, so you follow them.
And before you know it, you've stopped checking the tracked tags because you're following 100 people and they'll tell you everything you want to know anyway, so why bother wading through the crap? You've got other stuff to worry about.
(Following someone is a buttload less formal than friending someone on LJ. Most people follow/unfollow people without ever speaking to one another. It's more of a "Hey! I think you're interesting and would like to see what you're up to!" kind of thing. It's nice. I like it.)
(and communicating is...hard, but not impossible. Most people communicate via reblogs (which is like, "hey I like what you said here, so I'm going to post it on my own blog so everyone can see it!" thing) which can get...long, and hard to follow. But there are also asks (private messages) and other things more suited for private conversation, so it tends to work out in the end. Worst part of tumblr is that it feels like a popularity contest sometimes, because if someone has a lot of followers, their stuff will get reposted a million times whereas yours might never get seen. But it works in reverse, too: just because you don't have a lot of people following you doesn't mean they won't read your stuff! And people 'like' and reblog stuff all the time, so you'll look at something you've posted and go "WOAH 50 PEOPLE LIKED THIS!" and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
no subject
It's *not* the best website for communication. But it is the best website for getting a general sense of what everyone feels about something immediately/finding out new information/seeing pretty pictures/ego-boosting.
Here's how I started with tumblr: go to the main page, and you'll see you can enter a tag. I entered a tag for a fandom (glee!) a ship (klaine!) and a character I happen to like (blaine anderson!). Tags are...sort of like LJ communities, but not?
Like, picture this: every time someone makes a post on their own livejournal talking Glee, they tagged it. And when you click on that tag, you are seeing what everyone who has tagged Glee has to say about it. Which is a lot, and a little overwhelming, and a lot of it is crap. But then you notice one person has posted an opinion you really agree on, and you decide to check out their journal, and--what do you know!--you agree with them on a lot of things! So you decide to follow them so you can keep track of them and their posts, in the same way you would follow someone on LJ. So now whenever you open tumblr, you see whatever that person has posted, like you would on your friend's page.
Then you notice someone else on the tracked tag who draws fanart that you like, so you follow them. Then this other person writes really good fanfics, so you follow them. And this person is just quirky and you like their style, so you follow them.
And before you know it, you've stopped checking the tracked tags because you're following 100 people and they'll tell you everything you want to know anyway, so why bother wading through the crap? You've got other stuff to worry about.
(Following someone is a buttload less formal than friending someone on LJ. Most people follow/unfollow people without ever speaking to one another. It's more of a "Hey! I think you're interesting and would like to see what you're up to!" kind of thing. It's nice. I like it.)
(and communicating is...hard, but not impossible. Most people communicate via reblogs (which is like, "hey I like what you said here, so I'm going to post it on my own blog so everyone can see it!" thing) which can get...long, and hard to follow. But there are also asks (private messages) and other things more suited for private conversation, so it tends to work out in the end. Worst part of tumblr is that it feels like a popularity contest sometimes, because if someone has a lot of followers, their stuff will get reposted a million times whereas yours might never get seen. But it works in reverse, too: just because you don't have a lot of people following you doesn't mean they won't read your stuff! And people 'like' and reblog stuff all the time, so you'll look at something you've posted and go "WOAH 50 PEOPLE LIKED THIS!" and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Does this make any sense?)