Does anyone on Tumblr use it to exclusively share relevant information? Not really. I mean, I like seeing a post about the next bubblegum pop album to come out or a hot picture of Zooey Deschanel, but those things are sort of inconsequential in the arenas of business and technology. So I don’t look at the site as a viable source of information on those topics, nor do I feel that it needs to be. Secular output is just as important on the web as business is; if it weren’t we’d all be essentially drones. Rather, when I need some fresh flavors or straight-up knowledge, I go to Twitter.
Yet in recent weeks the output of information has given way to things that I more generally associate with Tumblr: music, humor, gossip. I worry that I’ve finally jumped the fail whale on Twitter. What was at one point a useful tool for researching valuable information has become an engine for things more often associated with time-wasting than productivity. I don’t like that. I like having my information in those small bites without bringing sentimental or even humorous elements in.
What do I need to know, and where do I learn it? I probably don’t need to know—at least not immediately—that this guy has a crush on some celebrity blogger, or that this girl is taking the day off to watch her friend compete for a showcase on The Price is Right. And I’m just as much to blame for the dissemination of value from the medium as anyone else. But no longer!
If I have to avoid being ‘social’ in the traditional sense over one social media platform, so be it. I need my news before the news has it, and Twitter is going to keep giving it to me. I guess it’s on me to just stop being so gossipy. Which sucks, because I love talking shit.
3 years ago