Even before the creation of Tumblr, for LGBTQ+ and gender diverse youth the internet has been an invaluable resource for finding information, friendship, and community in an otherwise hostile heteronormative and cisgendered world. With the advancement of mobile communications, internet connectivity, and of course, participatory media, queer users may find even greater connection online, but must also contest with new problems these online spaces present, from harassment and “default publicness” to structures and affordances designed for heteronormative and cisgendered users and social lives. In a world that requires queer youth to rely on underground practises of expression and community, it is vital queer youth occupy spaces online where they can negotiate identity, find peers, and build communities that may be unavailable elsewhere. Here I would argue that although Tumblr was not designed specifically for Queer and Gender-diverse users, the infrastructure and affordances of Tumblr as a Social Network Site (SNS) have lent themselves crucially to the practices of its young LGBTQ+ users and communities.

How Tumblr’s Blogging-Style Infrastructure effects Queer Identities and Communities Online

           In a 2016 Project, “Scrolling Beyond Binaries,” five Australian Digital Media Scholars (Byron et al., 2019) surveyed young LGBTQ+ people between the ages of 16 to 35 regarding their social media use. What they found was that a striking 64% of queer respondents had used Tumblr before, in comparison to only 14% of youth respondents in general population surveys. (Robards B. et al, 2020) Notably, an enormous 65% of these surveyed LGBTQ+ Tumblr users reported their primary motivation for using the platform was to find and communicate with “people who are like me” (Robards B. et al, 2020, pp.282). Whilst it is no surprise that the internet has been pivotal in helping people who are gender diverse or queer find community online, when an enormous 65% of survey respondents choose Tumblr specifically to connect with likeminded users, we cannot deny the platform’s capacity to build systems of belonging and community for LGTBTQ+ youth. (Robards et al., 2020) I would argue that whilst platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, or even Instagram foster community and connections around existing bonds of family or friendship, Tumblr is distinct in that its queer users are instead motivated to connect with an almost unstructured sense of “community” based solely on similar experiences and interests (Robards et al., 2020; Byron et al., 2019; Duguay, 2018). Hence, the importance of Tumblr’s “diary” or blogging-style infrastructure becomes apparent, with the facilitation and sharing of lived queer experiences and interests allowing LGBTQ+ users to find “people who are like me” through building both queer identities and communities online simultaneously.

            Since its origin in the early nineties, blogging has transformed in the era of web 2.0 and participatory media to intersect with the content sharing practises of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr, where users are encouraged to generate content that depicts their lives. (Notes 3 – p6) At its core, Tumblr is similar to Social Network Sites like Facebook or Instagram as it allows users to create and repost content that viewable on a user’s profile. Each of these platforms allow users to build an ever-growing compilation and archive of previous content interactions and posts on their profile that can serve both as context behind the user’s new posts, as well as display what scholar Karen McCullagh (2008) describes as “an evolving portrait of the blogger’s interests and experiences.” (McCullagh, 2008, pp.2) Essentially, these social media sites each offer users a curatorial online environment that can be used to record, narrate, or process various life experiences and events, existing as a unique space for individuals to construct or work on self-identity through self-expression and social interaction online. (McCracken, 2017, F; McCullagh, 2008) Yet, whilst Tumblr shares this blog-style infrastructure with popular social media platforms, the site’s affordance of anonymity allows its users to approach this blog-style content creation, curation, and identity work distinctly.

            In the 2016 Project, “Scrolling Beyond Binaries,” (Byron et al., 2019) LGBTQ+ youth consistently referred to Tumblr “like a diary of sorts,” prompting scholars to view the blogging and self-expression practises of Tumblr as driven by a desire for self-reflection and realization, rather than community building. (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2249) Effectively, much like a regular diary, Tumblr allows its users to focus on profile creation and curation as a personal act largely constructed by and for oneself. In one such description by a “Scrolling Beyond Binaries” respondent Jasmine (aged 29, trans female, lesbian, urban), Tumblr is described as “…my diary when I was trying to figure out what my gender was…[I]t was through Tumblr that I figured out what I was, or at least what I wasn’t.” (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2249) Here Jasmine shows us just one example of Tumblr being used as a personal diary and archive, her self-expression being oriented towards self-reflection or self-realization associated with gender.

            On Tumblr it is not unusual for users to post these “diary-style” lived experiences or stories like those referenced by Jasmine. In fact, this use of the blogging-style infrastructure for highly personal content is a trend particular to Tumblr. Instead, through the anonymity affordance of the platform and its step away from networks built upon existing family and friend relationships, it affords queer users’ greater chances for direct and honest communication without real-world consequences or dangers. (Burton, 2020) What this means is that since Tumblr users can safely curate personal content and experiences, they are more likely to create personal and critical self-reflecting profiles than users on other social media sites. (Byron et al., 2019) This means that individual users find greater opportunities for self-expression and reflection, but also that users can connect, network, and learn through sharing lived queer experiences, opinions, and interests, or through connecting or viewing these self-reflecting profiles.

            Scholars Robards et al. write in their recent 2020 paper, Tumblr as a Space of Learning, Connecting, and Identity Formation for LGBTIQ+ Young People, that:

             “When queer and gender diverse people are hidden or erased in education and accessible cultural forms, stumbling across “people like me” on Tumblr can be revelatory and also a moment of learning and discovery: new words, new languages for self-expression, and new opportunities to connect one’s own experiences with others through this learned language.” (pp. 286)

            What these scholars highlight here is the ability for identity work on Tumblr (or the creation and curation of queer experiences, opinions, and interests) to additionally effect and build a larger queer community online. To quote the work of scholar Delanty (2018, pp. 200), the Tumblr community is built upon communication and connection. For many Tumblr users, the platform offers opportunities not only to share and write their own personal experiences, but the invaluable chance to access other queer youth whose shared experiences they can learn from, as well as be affirmed by. (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2245) In turn, through sharing personal experiences online, or displaying the vocabulary and knowledge of queer users, Tumblr serves as a vital resource for learning from and connecting to queer and gender-diverse peers, even indirectly. (Robards et al., 2020, pp. 287; Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2244) In one such case recorded by “Scrolling Beyond Binaries” (2016) respondent Colin (aged 27, male, gay, urban) states that whilst he sees the queer community on Tumblr, he doesn’t participate in it. However, through following, being followed, posting, and reblogging, he is directly engaging and building upon the queer community. He, similar to those who share their personal stories, is still documenting, curating, and making visible, aspects of queer experiences, opinions, and interests online (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2249).

            What we can understand here is that whilst Tumblr shares a similar blogging-style infrastructure to other popular social media sites, its anonymity and networking style allow users to create more personal and personalised profiles. As these profiles online are often the site of identity work this means that queer users are able to express, narrate, explore, and make visible, the nuances of queer life online. On Tumblr, the practice of creating, and even sharing content engaged with queer experiences, opinions, and interests is no longer restricted to just individual identity work, but integrated with the practice of community building, where affirmation and knowledge is created through shared understandings and experiences.

Anonymity, Privacy, and Tumblr as a Counterpublic

            It surely surprises no one to say that in the modern era new technologies are more embedded in forms of social life than ever before. With new forms of mobile technology, internet connectivity, and of course, participatory media, scholars like Delanty (2018) believe that mobile communication technologies “…do not simply reflect social life but constitute it,” reorganising the space between the public and private spheres in ways that drastically change the geography of our social lives. (Delanty, 2018, pp. 203; Papacharissi, 2011, pp. 307)

            Yet whilst this technology has allowed both people and information to move more freely, connecting people all over the world, individuals are more likely than ever to be exposed to a variety of not only intentional, but accidental audiences in online spaces (Hampton & Wellman, 2018, pp. 647; Papacharissi, 2011, pp. 307) As social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram are designed to connect and reconnect individuals with established relationships, the scope of community stretches the traditional boundaries of place or time. (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2243; Abidin, 2021) Here, scholars like Alexander Cho have found that for minority groups and in particular, queer or LGBTQ+ individuals, it can be difficult to control your potential audience, instead experiencing social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram as spaces of “default publicness.” (Cho, 2018) In comparison to these “default public” spaces, where LGBTQ+ youth can experience forced outings, online harassment, or even real danger, anonymity is a vital affordance of Tumblr supported by both the architecture of the platform, and by the culture of the queer community itself. (Cho, 2018) Perhaps most strikingly of all, it is through this anonymity that Tumblr’s queer community remains an affective counter–public, unable to control potential audiences, but able to safely perform activism through queer visibility.

            The anonymity opportunities of Tumblr are not an affordance unique to the platform, what is unique however, is the way this anonymity is constituted, and how it effects the content that is shared and created between users. At a structural level, Tumblr blogs are typically anonymous or pseudonymous. In addition to this, the platform, unlike similar sites like Facebook or Instagram, is also unlikely to connect or reconnect users to the accounts of people they have existing “real-world” relationships with. (Byron et al., 2019, pp. 2243) Whilst some users may actively choose to display their “real-names” and connect with prevailing family, friends, or social networks, scholars such as Burton (2020) suggest that by allowing users to negotiate the boundaries of their own privacy online, Tumblr “…affords young people a particular kind of privacy more in tune with their priorities and lived realities.” (pp. 104) Whilst for many LGBTQ+ youth on Tumblr this means keeping their identity secret and their networks separate from “real-life,” these spaces that afford privacy for minority groups offer a set of unique dynamics that Burton (2020) suggests are “a result of this position at the margins of digital social life.” (pp. 104) Resulting from this, Tumblr acts as a “space of possibility” where communities are able to construct new ways and practises of being that speak to their particular needs and priorities. For Tumblr in particular, this includes the practises around the creation and sharing of lived queer experiences. In Burton’s 2020 article, “Screaming into the Void,” they include a Tumblr post from a young woman featuring a selfie in the colours of the bisexual pride flag for Bi Visibility Day. Below this image is the caption, “I’M STILL CLOSETED OFFLINE! DO NOT SHARE!” (Burton, 2020, pp. 103) What this post highlights is a trend for queer users to “go public” with “private information” on Tumblr, seeking comfort, identity creation, and community through being open in a space they perceive as safe and distant from “real-life” relationships. Additionally, even though this post includes an identifying photo, the user’s choice to post with a caption instructing other users to respect their privacy highlights the anonymity and privacy practises of queer Tumblr users. As Burton (2020) writes, there is an understanding between users that “personal” posts are not to be shared, allowing Tumblr’s privacy to “…run more on social norms established by its various communities.” (Burton, 2020, pp. 109) What this means for queer users that whilst they may face “default publicness” on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, Tumblr’s greater privacy control allows them to post greater personal content, allowing the platform to become a space where queer users perform activism through making visible queer experiences and narratives.

            Scholars Byron & Hunt (2017) would argue that in posting personal content on Tumblr, queer users are not seeking an active response, but are instead attempting to say, “I need to share this and be heard.” When queer users seek a sense of belonging or identity on Tumblr through the sharing of lived queer experiences, these users assist in building a personalized queer community “…embodied in networks and centred on the individual.” (Delanty, 2018, pp. 211) Since both structural affordances and cultural practises on Tumblr allow users to share personal experiences and identity-work online safely, this queer community is built around the experiences, interests, and opinions of networked queer individuals. (Byron et al., 2020) This community, through presenting and making visible online, the resources, diversity, and activities of queer individuals, has the ability to perform activism. As scholars Hampton and Wellman (2018) suggest afterall, “[a]n awareness of newfound diversity could increase access to (and possibly understanding of) diverse points of view and counter a tendency to form intolerant echo chambers.” (pp. 648; Abidin, 2021; Papacharissi and Trevey, 2018) In this sense, Tumblr’s queer community can be understood as a Counterpublic. As suggested by Warner (2002), a Counterpublic has an audience, a unique language, and a distinct discourse oriented to a distinct future. In this example we can see that Tumblr users fit this description through their engagement with gender and sexuality related discussions and visibility. (Byron, 2019)

            In conclusion, with surveys showing that 64% of LGBTQ+ youth choose to use Tumblr, 65% of whom are seeking to find “people like me,” we cannot ignore that platform’s ability to cater to the needs and practises of LGBTQ+ youth communities online. Although Tumblr was not designed specifically for use by Queer and Gender-diverse youth, the platforms blogging-style infrastructure and privacy affordances lend themselves crucially to the practices of young LGBTQ+ users and communities online. Whilst the community networks of Facebook and Instagram rely on connecting or reconnecting individuals with existing relationships, Tumblr allows users greater control over potential audiences through structural anonymity. Similarly, through the sites blogging-style interface, the site encourages the posting of personal content, and the curation of archival profiles that create opportunities for identity work online. Finally, although Tumblr offers infrastructure that supports the building of queer communities online, this infrastructure has been negotiated and transformed by the very practises of the queer community that uses it. This is all to say that whilst Tumblr was not created for the queer community, it acts currently as a crucial online space and example of the affordances that best suit queer communities online.

 Download the PDF paper below:

HOW TUMBLR ACTS AS A CRUCIAL RESOURCE FOR ONLINE QUEER COMMUNITIES – Audrey Menz

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