Today in Tumblr Malarkey

[minoanmiss]

Tumblr has decided to monetize! A good explanation is here:
https://honigfrosch.dreamwidth.org/122042.html

On the one hand this is hilarious.

OTOH I do hope it doesn't take down Tumblr. I don't want to have to join Instagram to get my daily soothing mindless scroll through assorted pretty people (and I suspect Instagram's idea of Pretty People is much narrower than the range I prefer).

Tell them what we think: https://tumblr.survey.fm/post-feedback-form

Comments

[bikergeek]

Instagram's idea of Pretty People certainly doesn't mesh with mine as long as you're not on it.

That said, FaceBook owns Instagram and I cannot discourage you strongly enough from having anything to do with anything owned and operated by FaceBook.

[minoanmiss]

One of the things I like about Tumblr is that there are pictures of pretty girls who look like me on. it (and pretty boys who look like Boy Me, though they are rarer).

Oh UGH not the Book of Face and its slimy tentacles. EWWW.

[bikergeek]

Slimy tentacles of dubious consent, and not the fun kind.

[sovay]

Tumblr has decided to monetize! A good explanation is here

I am not even on Tumblr, and yiiiikes.

[minoanmiss]

ZOMG yes.

[hitchhiker]

yeah, that! I'm not on tumblr but I've always loved that it exists as a freewheeling chaotic corner of the social internet.

[kore]

"Patreon but shittier" certainly seems to sum that up.

Obviously the response is way too little, way too late (like they can even compete with TikTok or Patreon here) but this really gave me pause

“Not reserved only for professionals, or those with 10K followers or higher, Tumblr’s Post+ will push the boundaries of what’s considered money-making content on the internet: Shitposters, memelords, artists, fan fiction writers, all of the above and everyone in between will be able to create content while building their community of supporters, and getting paid with Post+,” a Tumblr spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Fan fiction writers? Obviously there's enough wink-wink going on with "Buy me a Kofi" and Patreon or whatever, but did anyone think about the legal implications of saying that??

[minoanmiss]

Sensible people like petra thought about it. Tumblr Staff, not so much.

*listens to the wind blowing through their ears*

[brooksmoses]

Likewise memes; I'm aware of remarkably few "memelords" that work entirely with original images....

[kore]

Not to mention what's happening with that trend to buy memes as NFTs! (which I still totally don't really get)

[brooksmoses]

My reaction to that trend is that blockchains have become like an ouroboros, except in reverse so that instead of swallowing its own tail it is disappearing its head up its own arse, and we could only wish that its continuing to do so would lead it to disappear entirely with a gentle "pop" sound.

The only explanation I have is that only person easier to separate from their money than an ordinary fool is a fool who wants to show off how much money they can spend.

I would expect that a plausible legal argument could be made that buying a meme as an NFT has nothing whatsoever to do with ownership of the actual content of the meme in any form (see, e.g., this explanation), and thus it cannot be copyright infringement. Whether this argument would win in court is another matter, of course, but it's an indication of just how absurd the whole concept is.

[brooksmoses]

I feel confused. My experience of Tumblr was that it consisted almost entirely of reposts, and the value that people brought to their "blogs" was the curation of the things that they reposted rather than the originality of their content. I mean, as far as I'm aware, even for conversations the way one holds a conversation on Tumblr is by reposting something with an added note.

Sure, there were some people who became popular for posting original content, but it certainly seemed to me that the way they became popular is because people interacted with that content by reposting it, and as it spread through reposts, people who followed the reposters became aware of the original poster.

How do they expect this paid-content model to interact with reposting? Are people basically prevented from reposting -- and thus from replying to, and from generating buzz about -- paid posts? Can people with paid-content blogs repost other people's posts as their own paid content?

I am sure that Tumblr has answers to those questions, but I don't see how they could possibly have good answers. (Edit to add: Oh, they answer the first one in their FAQ: When a paid post is reposted, what gets shown in the repost is only a "teaser" section defined by the original poster. Yeah, that'll work great. Especially when people post drama-stirring replies that misrepresent what's in the non-teaser part of the post!)

[minoanmiss]

nods in agreement and offers you some popcorn

[kore]

From what I remember, there were artists, fanartists, some photographers, and a bunch of adult artists all making money before the big censorship crackdown, and they all got screwed without lube, especially the adult workers (pun grimly intended). With fanartists, their stuff got reposted, but it was also a great way for them to advertise their work (which they could sell reproductions of on Etsy and other sites, and they also got commissions. I bought art from this artist a couple of times: https://dorkbait.tumblr.com/post/136429499360/new-year-new-commission-post-ocs-fanart-and)

So that was my tiny experience with people who did make some money off Tumblr, but I don't see how the fanartists could do it officially. Except Twitter now has fanartists who get work picked up by Marvel for variant covers or movie specials (there were a bunch just now for the Black Widow movie) but I have no idea how that's working behind the scenes. There are some pro artists like Kevin Wada who do fan commissions on Twitter too.


tl;dr I guess this is half the poor sod who bought Tumblr desperately trying to shock life back into it, half the result of new users going "you want me to put content out there FOR FREE?" and going back to TikTok

[honigfrosch]

half the result of new users going "you want me to put content out there FOR FREE?" and going back to TikTok

Exactly. They're not putting it like that (of course) but I found the quotes in this WSJ article quite telling: Unlike previous internet generations, people from this younger age group value and may even expect to be paid to post, said Lance Willett, Tumblr’s chief product and technology officer. [...] “When we looked at the younger generation, trying to figure out what would be the hook for them, we decided to make Post+, because it’s something that will push the boundaries and it’s following their behavior they’re already doing,” Mr. Willet said.

[kshandra]

This is the survey creator's cat informing you that you're halfway done.

The one thing they appear to have gotten right in this process.

[darkmarcy]

Oh dear, I have been offline a while and saw some posts lamenting on... something monetizy, but did not have time to scroll thru all my dash. Thanks for the heads up! I gave them feedback that this is a terrible, horrible, not a good idea.

And.. Instagram isn't paid for, every third post just is an ad. An ad based on what it has heard you mention :') Goddamn spyware. And it's owned by Facebook. And the algorithm is getting worse all the time with their video emphasis.
It is still a picture-sharing site, so texts posts don't really work there like they do on journal platforms and, well, tumblr. There are walls of texts but you have to expand them and click on comments and assafaffFRGHDGHJAHJurrrgh it is very tiring.

[acequeenking]

Might be myself being a pessimist, but this reads to me a lot like Tumblr's new owners looked at what have to be insane server costs and said "Make it profitable or perish."

That said, while I can't imagine that this is gonna be profitable for them. Fanfiction writers who are old school will avoid it like the plague because they know monetizing your fanfic is a good way to get shit. New school fans might try it, but I never see people have much success with fanfic commissions to begin with. NSFW isn't allowed. Fanartists have figured out how to get paid without Tumblr taking a cut. Who the hell would paid for memeposts/shitposts? They're easy to make and a dime a dozen.

That said in a weird way I'm kind of rooting for Tumblr. It's the last popular bastion of text-based content, and if what we're left for in terms of fannish soc med is twitter, insta, or tikitytok, then it's going to be a very sad day.

[lb_lee]

*winces, sucks breath through teeth* Hooooo boy. This doesn't look easy to game/rig at all. "Patreon but shittier" sums it up, and no easy block options? NO WAY. (I had to block someone who wanted to be a patron; I didn't like doing it, but at least Patreon made it easy for me!)

[minoanmiss]

Yeah, the "you cannot block someone who paid money to see your blog" is where I stopped laughing. That is a BAD POLICY OF BADNESS.

[lb_lee]

I KNOW RIGHT?! Especially since it seems like you can't CONTROL that! So if Stalker McStalkerson creates a tumblr under a totally random name and immediately pays, there's absolutely no way you can get rid of him or know what he's done until it's too late! D:

[corvidology]

My Tumblr account became inactive about 2 weeks after I made it and I'm still having a WTF? moment.