From Tumblr to Pinterest

Pop-culture is based on popular mainstream tastes, ideas and cultures. Since our blog is about Pop-culture I wanted to bring up the large phenomena and now mainstream website ; Tumblr. A few years ago, I discovered the site Tumblr. I did not know much about it at the time other than it was a blog of sorts. All I would  do was find random pictures or quotes I would like and then would post a couple of them a week on the site.  As my number of followers grew, my posts became more frequent as well.  I felt quite popular among this internet site.

As my popularity grew there also were many people that did not like my Tumblr account what so ever.  These people would say that I am "stealing" pictures and quotes or even things that I had written myself. I found that as the site grew more popular too, the more complicated and less enjoyable it became.

This blog was just something I did in my spare time as a way to relax. I was not in any way, shape or form trying to steal things that were not mine or break any laws of any kind . All I wanted to do was go home after school and escape from real life for an hour a day to mindlessly surf Tumblr and re-blog anything that suited my fancy.

All the rules, regulations and terms and conditions had become so complex that I eventually gave up on Tumblr all together. I thought what is the point of even having a Tumblr account to relax if it actually is more of a stress than school is. 

I read this article about a year ago, and I found it interesting as well as helpful. It was called A Guide to Happy (and Legal) Tumblr-ing . This article by Luke O'Neil in the Wall Street Journal, goes over the basics over Tumblr and how to enjoy it without feeling you are breaking the law. He mentions the importance of the usage of Creative Commons, Flickr and citing your sources.  Which are all important practices of blogging (as we have learned in Michele's class thus far).

The article mentions many valid points and ways to enjoy Tumblr which may make me want to re-join the website. Unfortunately, I have no time and little energy to waste on checking if each picture I re-blog has a creative commons licence. So for now I will have to find another outlet for relaxation. 

Hot Yoga anyone???