5 ms·

This article misses (intentionally?) the 3rd important point that keeps me on there: the absence of big money. There's minimal advertising, no astroturfing, no

by skupig 5y ago

This article misses (intentionally?) the 3rd important point that keeps me on there: the absence of big money. There's minimal advertising, no astroturfing, no sponsorships, no paid features. It is pretty much the last of its kind in that regard. Someone is clearly making a push to capitalize on it, and I'm not looking forward to adding it to the endlessly growing list of beautiful things that rich businessmen have destroyed.

egman_ekki 5y ago
There's a subscription feature that's in the works. https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/21/22684089/tumblr-post-plus-subscription-monetization-beta https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/21/22684089/tumblr-post-plus...
smoe 5y ago
Are.na, although very niche (which I think is a feature), looks very interesting in this regard. Financed trough paid accounts instead of selling user data/ads and being driven by chasing big investor money. It also seems to have a very open api for people to build things upon. https://are.na https://are.na From Wikipedia: Are.na is an online social networking community and creative research platform [...] Are.na was built as a successor to hypertext projects like Ted Nelson's Xanadu, and as an ad-free alternative to social networks like Facebook, forgoing "likes," "favorites," or "shares" in its design. Are.na allows users to compile uploaded and web-clipped "blocks" into different "channels," [...]
- mostlysimilar 5y ago
  I'm drawn to the idea and the ethos, but wow that UI is hard to look at.
  - slickdork 5y ago
    Homepage is definitely a mess on ultrawide/firefox.
  - smoe 5y ago
    I don't like the homepage much, especially since I did absolutely not understand what this is supposed to be about. The application part itself I quite like. Some of the color contrasts are way to low and style over substance (my first impression was, that it must have been designed by a Swiss Architect), but what I do like a lot is, just how little noise there is.
- dylan604 5y ago
  >forgoing "likes," "favorites," or "shares" in its design I have a feeling that is going to alienate mass populace users.
  - smoe 5y ago
    Which I think is great. Those features just incentivises people to constantly scream for attention and marketing agencies to try to create viral campaigns. There are already plenty products aimed at the mass populace, I would love to see again more communities built for the niches. Not just in terms of topics (subreddits et al), but functionality and interactions. Because honestly I came to the conclusion that communities only work if they stay relatively small and focused. I haven't used Are.na enough to say anything about their community specifically, but their approach resonates strongly with me.
  - nvr219 5y ago
    Good
  - mattgreenrocks 5y ago
    This is a feature. Literally every other social site falls over itself to show meaningless metrics.
  - Zak 5y ago
    If I could make one change to Facebook, it would be to eliminate the share button. I wouldn't make it impossible for people to copy and paste links to third-party content, but there would be no front-and-center UI for it. The main thing I want from that sort of social media is to see original content from people that I know. I don't want to see the best cat video; I want to see my friend's cat video.
    - dylan604 5y ago
      If you eliminated the TOP 10 listicle type of things or entire domains that host that kind of content, I'd call it a good start.
  - zeruch 5y ago
password1 5y ago
But isn't Tumblr userbase mainly teens and their subcultures? What's the value of not having ads, sponsor and astroturfing, if there's not relevant or interesting community to join to begin with?
- drdeca 5y ago
  “All tumblr users are either too young for tumblr or too old for tumblr” - “tumblr teen” argumate (argumate is certainly not a teenager (I think he is probably like, almost 40?) but some news article referred to him as such at one point) I wouldn’t say there’s nothing interesting on tumblr. Like, there’s nostalgebraist’s writing on machine learning, Also other people posting some math content. It is a social blogging site. People write blogs there.
  - beckingz 5y ago
    Frank - the autoresponder gpt-3 bot is fantastic.
  - wyre 5y ago
    Tumblr teens are now aged around 25-35, I bet.
    - hippie_queen 5y ago
      Can confirm as a Tumblr teen
- wyre 5y ago
  Just because a platform is not relevant or interesting to you or your circles doesn’t mean it has no value to others. Lots of people got a lot of value out of using Tumblr. When Facebook was limited to people you know in real life, Tumblr allowed for anonymity and making friends with people with similar experiences.
Tenoke 5y ago
They cite someone saying "There aren’t influencers on Tumblr the way there are on Instagram and TikTok, and the experience for all users might be more pleasant as a result. " they just don't dig further into it.
digisign 5y ago
A chronological feed sounds enticing.
GeorgeTirebiter 5y ago
Agree. I like it as a quiet place to jot down my thoughts. I don't post often; when I do, it's easy to remember how to get it to do what I want, I've never been hassled. I could do this on my private server(s), and if tumblr gets weird, that's always an option.

by skupig 5y ago

egman_ekki 5y ago

There's a subscription feature that's in the works. https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/21/22684089/tumblr-post-plus-subscription-monetization-beta https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/21/22684089/tumblr-post-plus...

smoe 5y ago

Are.na, although very niche (which I think is a feature), looks very interesting in this regard. Financed trough paid accounts instead of selling user data/ads and being driven by chasing big investor money. It also seems to have a very open api for people to build things upon. https://are.na https://are.na From Wikipedia: Are.na is an online social networking community and creative research platform [...] Are.na was built as a successor to hypertext projects like Ted Nelson's Xanadu, and as an ad-free alternative to social networks like Facebook, forgoing "likes," "favorites," or "shares" in its design. Are.na allows users to compile uploaded and web-clipped "blocks" into different "channels," [...]

mostlysimilar 5y ago
I'm drawn to the idea and the ethos, but wow that UI is hard to look at.
- slickdork 5y ago
  Homepage is definitely a mess on ultrawide/firefox.
- smoe 5y ago
  I don't like the homepage much, especially since I did absolutely not understand what this is supposed to be about. The application part itself I quite like. Some of the color contrasts are way to low and style over substance (my first impression was, that it must have been designed by a Swiss Architect), but what I do like a lot is, just how little noise there is.
dylan604 5y ago
>forgoing "likes," "favorites," or "shares" in its design I have a feeling that is going to alienate mass populace users.
- smoe 5y ago
  Which I think is great. Those features just incentivises people to constantly scream for attention and marketing agencies to try to create viral campaigns. There are already plenty products aimed at the mass populace, I would love to see again more communities built for the niches. Not just in terms of topics (subreddits et al), but functionality and interactions. Because honestly I came to the conclusion that communities only work if they stay relatively small and focused. I haven't used Are.na enough to say anything about their community specifically, but their approach resonates strongly with me.
- nvr219 5y ago
  Good
- mattgreenrocks 5y ago
  This is a feature. Literally every other social site falls over itself to show meaningless metrics.
- Zak 5y ago
  If I could make one change to Facebook, it would be to eliminate the share button. I wouldn't make it impossible for people to copy and paste links to third-party content, but there would be no front-and-center UI for it. The main thing I want from that sort of social media is to see original content from people that I know. I don't want to see the best cat video; I want to see my friend's cat video.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    If you eliminated the TOP 10 listicle type of things or entire domains that host that kind of content, I'd call it a good start.
- zeruch 5y ago

password1 5y ago

But isn't Tumblr userbase mainly teens and their subcultures? What's the value of not having ads, sponsor and astroturfing, if there's not relevant or interesting community to join to begin with?

drdeca 5y ago
“All tumblr users are either too young for tumblr or too old for tumblr” - “tumblr teen” argumate (argumate is certainly not a teenager (I think he is probably like, almost 40?) but some news article referred to him as such at one point) I wouldn’t say there’s nothing interesting on tumblr. Like, there’s nostalgebraist’s writing on machine learning, Also other people posting some math content. It is a social blogging site. People write blogs there.
- beckingz 5y ago
  Frank - the autoresponder gpt-3 bot is fantastic.
- wyre 5y ago
  Tumblr teens are now aged around 25-35, I bet.
  - hippie_queen 5y ago
    Can confirm as a Tumblr teen
wyre 5y ago
Just because a platform is not relevant or interesting to you or your circles doesn’t mean it has no value to others. Lots of people got a lot of value out of using Tumblr. When Facebook was limited to people you know in real life, Tumblr allowed for anonymity and making friends with people with similar experiences.

Tenoke 5y ago

They cite someone saying "There aren’t influencers on Tumblr the way there are on Instagram and TikTok, and the experience for all users might be more pleasant as a result. " they just don't dig further into it.

digisign 5y ago

A chronological feed sounds enticing.

GeorgeTirebiter 5y ago

Agree. I like it as a quiet place to jot down my thoughts. I don't post often; when I do, it's easy to remember how to get it to do what I want, I've never been hassled. I could do this on my private server(s), and if tumblr gets weird, that's always an option.