Well, hello, happy new year. It’s time to get back in the swing of things after a long hiatus.
Back in March of last year, I wrote a long piece about Chris and I blogging over at nuevaciudad.tumblr.com. Well, We have not stopped. Just assume the good posts are all by Chris and not me. It’s a hodgepodge of science fiction, futures past, design, entertainment with an SF slant, and other ephemera we enjoy.
I really enjoy Tumblr, despite their recent extended, embarrassing downtime. It’s really about curation, you know. Back when I posted about tumblr last year, nobody was using it. I wonder if any more of you are using it since then?
The death, slowly, of things like LiveJournal depresses me. Facebook really is wonderful, but it really does not allow for the same kind of personalization and publication as the older school blogging tools did. Then again, there are so many more people using the web to express themselves, it makes sense that we come online in tribes, and why not have everyone go to the same place so we can all talk to each other? But the roach motel aspect of it–content goes in–hard to let it be shared more broadly–it worries me that it’s all on one domain.
We’ve been tumblr-ing for 16 months now. I expect it to continue. Though I do make regular backups with their Mac app.
three comments so far...
First of all, happy new year. Social networking is growing and more and more people are getting involved with it. I also like Tumblr for bookmarking and blog posting. Apart from it, I also like twitter and linkedn.
I applaud your reflection on social media and online expression. In agreement and reply, I say:
Doesn’t anybody just e-mail anymore? I use my e-mail inbox in a specific way, where the processed items are filed in sub-folders or deleted (you know, like a real “inbox!”), and the unfinished business remains, a visual reminder of what’s left to be done. Facebook’s messages are not so flexibly managed, and they’re all anybody uses anymore, and it’s screwing up my workflow. Boo.
Also, I see my own blog postings dwindling in number (and in size), and I blame the Twitter/FB Status messages’ necessarily brief formats for streamlining my tendency to ramble on. A hit-and-run note is fine, but I have to wonder if I’ve allowed myself to be conditioned into short form thought patterns. Blog postings used to be my favorite place to work things out, meditate, and talk smack. No longer.
Daddy no like.
It’s a good point. Online communication has fragmented. One thing Facebook seems to be trying to do is unify ALL of that. Of course, you have to buy into that which obviously has potential downsides.