The Digital Archipelago

The World According to Tumblr Audiences

Do you live your life more offline or online? Let start with your smartphone: which social media apps do you own? There is a big chance you see Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and/or Tumblr. How many hours a day do you spent using these apps? According to the British Newspaper “The Telegraph” the average person has five social media accounts and spends about 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks per day.[1]

       Today’s youth can’t deny that these social media apps have become a big part of their life and identity. Whether you are at a concert, eating a delicious meal or just drinking a cup of coffee: the whole worlds needs to be informed. It is our own decision if we use the GPS system on our mobile device, what we post and share online, nonetheless our lives can be traced because of the information we continuously share. This is an example of what the researcher Shayla Thiel-Stern covers in her article ‘Beyond the Active Audience, Exploring New Media Audiences and the Limits of Cultural Production’. She states that ‘“The audience is more aware than ever that it has an audience”. Every picture and post on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram is made to gain likes, constructed to be re-shared and thus receive attention. [2] People make their own content, which is the perfect example of the rise of the active audience / the amateur; a website where this aspect is featured is Tumblr.

        This website was founded in 2007 and became one of the biggest blogsites of the world. On this site people can ‘anonymously’ create their own unique blog, in which they are in full control of how it will look like, they decide the layout but also the content. Users can create content themselves and reblog pictures/text post or audio fragments from other blogs. In this way the members of Tumblr are simultaneously an audience and a creator, and maybe even an audience of an audience.[3] After a few reblogs, the original maker does not play a part in the content anymore, hence the audience is now an audience of an audience.

Still the Tumblr users only reblogs posts that are part of the identity he/she wants to show to its audience. In modern days, the internet is barely a medium where someone can stay anonymous. It is an extension of the identity and, by using this notion, the internet has been individualized. Nonetheless the different social media platforms handle this notion differently. For example, on Instagram the user can only show its identity through photos, whereas Facebook and Twitter can also show posts consisting textual content. These platforms let the user only change the content, but not the HTML codes. Tumblr in contrast does let the users change the html codes. When someone's owns a blog on Tumblr, the user can go to the CMS system and change the HTML setting to its own preferences. This platform also differs from the other social media, because one can choose to stay anonymous. Or well much more than on Facebook or Twitter.

This anonymity gives people the chance to experiment with cultural content and the way in which it is presented to the audience. Paradoxically, Tumblr can give a better portrait of someone's identity than Twitter or Facebook are able to do. Not only because it gives the users the possibility to change every element on their blog to personal preferences, but also because it gives the users the chance to come in contact with anonymous foreign users. Because of this aspect they can learn from each other and combine their cultural background to shape their identity. This is striking for the modern internet era, where the user is not passive, but interferes in the world of the internet. Shayla Thiel-Stern called this Audience 2.0. The modern internet user has become more aware of their own role in this medium and of the audience. [4]

In this blog were are going to take a closer look on how the audience of Tumblr fits into the notion of Audience 2.0 and web 2.0, by looking at the media itself and the prosumers it attracts. The reason why we emphasize on Tumblr is because it has a very interesting structure, which can be seen in the “world map” below.

This map shows several isolated islands, only a few are connected by a bridge. The Islands are subdivided by specific interests; together they form a digital archipelago. The most famous island of Tumblr is the Fandom territory. In this community of Tumblr the audience is free to “fangirl/boy” (a human being who is obsessed with a fictional character or actor) about a “ship” (preferable romantic relationship between characters or real life persons) and at the same time are able to find a large audience for their fanfiction. Tumblr has several of these islands, like the ‘hipster island’, ‘porn island’ and ‘food island’. Moreover there is an island devoted to ‘pride’, where people from the LGBT community can find support. Tumblr functions as a platform where everyone can find their niche, but at the same time functions as a place where taboos and social problems can be discussed. Most of these social issues have an American origin, an example is the total black-out during the race riots at the beginning of 2015. During this black-out every Tumblr member of the black community posted a selfie. And even though in other countries this problem is not as dominant as in America, it makes people (re)think and at the same time it brings people together as one community. Even though the users have a different cultural background or are from different fandoms.

To take a closer look at the social media of Tumblr the chapters from the book ‘The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies’ are used, these chapters are ‘Nomadic Scholarship, Translocal Approach to Audience Studies’ (by Fabienne Darling-Wolf), ‘Beyond the Active Audience, Exploring New Media Audiences and the Limits of Cultural Production’ (by Shayla Thiel-Stern) and ‘From Audiences to Media Subjectivities, Mutants in the Interregnum’ (by Jack Bratich). In these chapters the authors discuss concepts like individuality, identity and translocalism, which can all be applied to the audience 2.0, i.e. the audience of Tumblr.

A lot of changes are visible since the beginning of the internet. As Thiel-Stern mentioned in her article, in the beginning the audience was passive. In 1993 the New York Times joked that you could be a dog without anyone noticing it. Nowadays there is a very small change you can get away with being a dog on the internet. [5]

When you are on Facebook, or other social media, people are able to trace you. People are able to find various information about you on google search; people can see what you do for a living (LinkedIn), where you favourite bar is located (Facebook), the view you have right now (Instagram) and what your opinion is about a particular subject (Twitter). Except if you have changed the privacy settings on these accounts. Thus a lot of information can be traced back in your online history. The internet has become an extension of the non-digital life: it can become as individualized as you want it to be. Even though you are part of the public, on the internet you can distinguish yourself online. On Tumblr you can distinguish yourself without showing the personal information.

     This notion of identity is getting more important, because the audience is increasing because of globalization. The world is getting smaller since the internet is expanding. In our day and age, we all have complex, transnational identities and by means of a counter reaction the need for makers of local identity spreads accordingly. The media landscape is globalizing, therefore people feel the need to emphasize their local identities within this global movement. At the same time they also emphasize their global self. [6] This also influences the way the audience uses Tumblr. Users can generate content from their own cultural backgrounds, to enable transcultural communication and identification.[7] Therefore Tumblr can help in denaturalizing normalized identities and even question patriarchal hegemonic structures and enable resistance because of its creative potential. Or as Bratich puts it, “Collective bodies have constituent power” (power from within, emancipatory power). [8] In the beginning the audience signified an expansion of participation while still cross-crossed by exclusions and hierarchies. User-participation that’s based in particularistic local backgrounds and interests, can challenge the formation of a unifiying global culture. However, this challenge is dissolved by the formation hybrid identity. [9] The Tumblr world is not a homogenous global culture, but identities from different cultural environments come together. According to Fabienne Darling-Wolf every culture you belong to is part of your identity. [10] Thereby local environments significantly shape the way you see others and experience the world. Developing a translocal perspective requires you to learn to identify and negotiate this local context cultural assumptions. So Tumblr is the ultimate platform for expressing the complex and translocal elements of our identities. It brings people together, by expressing who we are and how we differ from each other.

Is Tumblr as free as it claim to be? The user is able to create your own blog and content, and is in charge of which other blogs to follow. Jack Bratich states in his chapter, that self-possession is a fantasy. This notion can be applied to the users of Tumblr as well, because they are not as free as expected, but they enter “a space determined by codes, apparatuses, programs and pathways.” [11] Apart from the habitus/discourse which the audience of Tumblr is already part of, they are also restricted by the medium. In this case the Internet / Tumblr. It is impossible to trigger every sense, for instance the sense of smell could not be triggered. Tumblr only triggers sight and hearing, by which the user is restricted in its creation. He or she can’t add a smell to a picture or show how soft that puppy is. Moreover, Bratich also claims that every media subject is “raced, gendered and sexualized”. [12] Although Tumblr could be an exception on this notion, because the content is fully in hands of the user itself. So the race and gendered aspect should be in accordance depending on the race and gender of the user. If stereotypical examples are used: girls would post more romantic pictures on a pink background than boys who would make blogs about cars on a blue background.

Although the structure of Tumblr is based on isolated islands, maybe Tumblr is itself an isolated island in the social media world where only a few bridges can let you enter this world. Tumblr does not differ from other social media platforms since these platforms let you create your own content, but it does differentiate itself by unifying a community of strangers. It can be said that the audience is more than an active audience. Mostly because the audience of Tumblr consist out of Fans. According to Bratich, this group does not only create a community, they create a world. “Fandoms require an individual’s decoding power but is defined via the ensuing intersubjective and communicative practice.”[13] Which can be referred to as an interregnum. To this interregnum belongs the remixed media, prosumers, interactivity and identification and individuation,[14] which summarizes the core of Tumblr. The audience is a prosumer, they are interactive because they are able to create their own perfect blog to their own standards, which serves as a means for identification.

The web 2.0 and the audience 2.0 seem to have found each other in the medium Tumblr. Since the rise of the internet, the world is getting smaller and thus identities are getting hybridized. At the same time this medium is able to regain identity, for instance by using Social Media. With most social media, the user is bound to the restrictions of the medium. Users can only personalize the content and are also bound by the restrictions of the outside world. The users have become aware of the audience, because they personally know their audience. In this way Tumblr is different from Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, because it tries to differentiate itself by letting the user as free as possible, without the obligation of sharing personal information. Maybe because of this notion, there is no better way to show your identity than to do it anonymous.

Thesis: On Tumblr you can still be a dog. #anonymity #identity #web2.0

Initials:

A.D.

E.T.

J.M.D.O.M.

M.v.d.V

M.v.R

[1] Davidson, L. (2015) ‘Is your daily social media usage higher than average’, in: Media and Telecoms.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/116110959/Is-your-daily-social-media-usage-higher-than-average.html (13-11-2015)

[2] Thiel-Stern,S.(2013) ‘Beyond the Active Audience, Exploring New Media Audiences and the Limits of Cultural Productions”, in: Parameswaran, R. (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.p.7.

[3] Idem:14.

[4] Idem:7.

[5] Idem:4.

[6] Darling-Wolf, F. (2013) ‘Nomadic Scholarship: Translocal Approaches to Audience Studies’, in: Parameswaran, R. (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation.Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.p.2.

[7] Ibidem.

[8] Bratich, J.Z. (2013) ‘From Audiences to Media Subjectivities: Mutants in the Interregnum’, in: Parameswaran, R. (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.p.8.

[9] Darling-Wolf,F. (2013) ‘Nomadic Scholarship: Translocal Approaches to Audience Studies’, in: Parameswaran, R. (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell. p.16.

[10] Idem:9.

[11] Bratich, J.Z. (2013) ‘From Audiences to Media Subjectivities: Mutants in the Interregnum’, in: Parameswaran, R. (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume IV: Audience and Interpretation. Malden & Chichester:Whiley-Blackwell.p.15.

[12] Idem:16.

[13] Idem:18.

[14] Idem:20.