weilongfu:

1kpopaddict4 replied to your post:
what’s killing tumblr and the activity on this…

What does reblogging do? Seriously, I’m new to all of this and really just learned how to reboot something but the question remains what does it do for tumblr?

So one of the issues about tumblr (we’ll leave issues in policy, the bad apples, etc aside for now) is people saying that fandoms are dying. If your fandoms on tumblr are dying, then more people are likely to leave the website and go somewhere else to engage in fandom. 

And that’s true, fandoms come and go. It’s a natural part of the cycle.

But part of the reason why fandoms and such die out is that people stop creating material for the fandom. When there’s no more new material for a fandom, it stagnates. When it stagnates too long, people stop being in the fandom. 

But why stop creating? 

Because no one is actively viewing your material and helping to spread it through fandom. Rebloging on tumblr helps other people see what fandom creators are making. It also encourages creators because it gives comments and shows creators how people feel about their work. This is, of course, a double edged sword, but usually commentary is positive. Encouragement is important for people who create because it tells us that we’re doing something that people appreciate. 

Reblogs also do another important thing. They provide visibility to creators. Tags do as well, but searching tags on Tumblr is a special kind of annoying sometimes. I have no idea how the algorithm works sometimes because things I know I’ve tagged never seem to show up in some searches. :shrug: In any case visibility is great because it expands the base of people who look at your work and might appreciate it. They will then also potentially share it. And that’s how things get around in fandom. A chain of people sharing what they love. If you just hit the like button, the spread of content that you might think is spectacular stops and only reaches a tiny corner of fandom, making other parts think fandom is dying because new content is being created, but they aren’t seeing it.

Overall, the spread of new work is important to fandom because it encourages creators and ensures that everyone in fandom sees it at some point. Fandom dies when both things stop happening. 

Also, I did not expect to pause my workday to write this essay and I apologize to everyone for doing it.