You know how back in the pre-Internet days, it was nearly impossible to watch a TV series in its entirety because the local affiliate stations would deliberately air the episodes all out of order, then do some sort of statistical sorcery to figure out which particular episodes gave the
advertisers the best return for their dollar and just run those ten or twelve specific episodes in an endless semi-randomised rotation, and that was why every time you channel-surfed across a particular show it always seemed to be the same damn episode?
Twitter’s algorithm is literally the social media equivalent of that.
In middle/high school I put all the music I had on an off-brand mp3 player and would just set it to Shuffle All. I quickly realized the player’s shuffle fuction wasn’t purely random–it was weighted towards my favorite songs (aka the songs with the most plays).
Only I had never chosen those songs. They were just the random few to pop up the first time I shuffled everything, and they started playing more and more frequently as this horribly short-sighted algorithm fed itself bad data, until I was so annoyed at those few songs that I stopped listening entirely.
Anyway a few years later Facebook did the exact same thing with my friends list, siphoning me off from seeing most of my feed because OBVIOUSLY I interacted with them the most, therefore they must be my besties. But really they were just the only people showing up for me to interact with in the first place, until I was down to just a few people I never really talked to from high school, a college prof, and my racist uncle I kept calling out.
And shortly after that, YouTube followed suit, replacing “Subscriptions” with “Recommended” as the default category, and trying to find “things I liked” when it was really just whatever three channels I’d watched last, whatever unrelated viral vid it wanted to push that week, and weird perennials like Whose Line clips or lockpick reviews or YTPs that seem to hibernate for months at a time then return like locusts.
All this to say: the big mysterious algorithms that now run all the major platforms on the internet are never acting in your best interests. They’re just that junky mp3 player’s Shuffle All with a fresh coat of paint, and, to be clear, this is by design. They are VERY good at what they do, which is funneling users into nice predictable pockets of content that advertisers can exploit.
my roommate who is like. the most straight laced cis dude ever. just came into the living room and said “the masculine urge to get pregnant.” then stood there for a second before leaving silently.
Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we’re using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.
The Diagnosis
In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience.
Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content.
To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.
Our Guiding Principles
To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.
Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.
Provide high-quality content with every app launch.
Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.
Retain and grow our creator base.
Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.
Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.
Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.
Hi folks! We’re surprised to see how many of you think we’re getting rid of the reverse-chronological dashboard or pivoting to a solely algorithmic feed. We’re not! We can see how you might have come to that conclusion, so let us reassure you and clear some things up.
We have a ton of options and toggles to customize your experience. Want a reverse-chronological dashboard feed? No problem! The chronological feed is not going anywhere. Just toggle off “Best Stuff First” in your dashboard settings and scroll away. Want to see more art or fanfic of your favorite movie or show? Follow some tags and you’ll find additional posts and new blogs to follow. We’ve had an algorithm for years—we just don’t make you use it if you don’t want to.
Tumblr is a place where you can tailor and customize your experience to individual preferences. With this core product strategy as guidance, we’ll keep improving Tumblr for new and existing users alike.
Don’t get rid of reblog chains. One, that is something that many people on here love, two, that’s something that is almost uniquely tumblr, three, that’s how a lot of people joined this site, through screenshots of reblog chains that made them go “oh, I want to join in on that and have my comment seen”.
If you remove the reverse chron, it changes the fundamental website. The same is true for reblog chains. At the most, have it as an option to toggle off, don’t just default it. AND don’t just make it like Tumblr Live, where it has to be toggled every single week.
hey sorry your boyfriend fell into the public library book donation bin. yeah he’s being used to fund vital community programs and support services. yeah beanbag chairs too. if you pay your overdue fines we’ll give him back though
Ugh, was having a great time mocking my recently imprisoned rival when I noticed the camera positioning makes it so that I appear behind the bars, thus framing me as trapped in a metaphorical prison of the narrative, now my whole day is ruined. Fuck.
My longhouse is perfectly constructed. Every morning when I wake up in bed at the far end of my longhouse, I say my syllable. Then I spend all day sitting in bed. By sunset my syllable has traveled to the other end of my longhouse and back, and as it smacks me in the head, I fall asleep. My longhouse is perfectly constructed.
no really, squeeze it. Does it feel like it’s got sand in it? is’s sharpening sand. Stab the tip of your needle into it back and forth and it’ll help put a sharp edge back on a pin or needle that’s been blunted by use, or has a little bit of rust on it. It can’t fix anything worse then a little of either, and won’t work on something REALLY blunted, but its a lifesaver.
also it is a pepper
It’s not a pepper and it’s not for sharpening!!
It may seem like it should be a pepper, since that would go better with the flavour of a tomato (and the mass produced modern ones are admittedly more pepper shaped), but it is and has always been a strawberry. Here are some antique emery strawberries, which are much more strawberry shaped, and some of them have seeds.
And it’s for cleaning needles, not sharpening them. I can’t imagine how jamming a blunt needle point around in a bunch of loose grit could possibly sharpen it in any significant way, and all the historical sources I’ve seen only talk about cleaning.
“Every sewer’s work basket or work box should contain an emery bag, as shown in Fig. 2, through which to push a needle when it becomes rough, squeaks, or sticks in the material. An emery bag is usually shaped like a strawberry and consists of a rough denim bag filled with emery powder, which is a very hard material used for polishing metals. Such a bag may be purchased for 5 or 10 cents in any store that sells sewing materials. Needles often become rusted from the perspiration of the hands or from being left in damp places. The beginner may use a small emery bag to remove rust; or, a small piece of emery paper may be used instead.”
“An emery bag is inexpensive and is useful to keep needles polished and smooth. If the hands perspire and it is difficult to push the needle through the cloth, running the needle through the emery will relieve the condition.”
“It was very hot to sit and sew. The needle would get sticky in spite of all the little emery strawberry could give it, and Beth’s fingers had never felt so clumsy and uncomfortable.”
This patent from 1873 mentions an emery slab for sharpening pins, which is quite different from a cushion, and which sounds like it actually would work for sharpening.
“C is a slab of emery or other sharp and fine grit, for sharpening needles or pins”
Then later down the page it also says
“E is an emery cushion, secured in the body of the holder A, and is used for polishing needles and keeping them smooth.”
So. Strawberry for cleaning. Not pepper for sharpening.
Gentle reminder - modern sewing tools are made from treated or plated metal, or stainless steel. In terms of human civilisation, this is a wild advance of technology. Needles are some of our oldest tools; rust was formerly ubiquitous, and attacked every form of everyday metal. A rusty needle tears fabric, or worse, stains it. The luxury and technology of rustproof needles and pins - forgotten in a few generations of human memory - and yet it is remembered in the strawberry. Memory is stored in the strawberry!
We are current recruiting people to help make a document introducing orv to new readers! It also has sections that will just make the experience more enjoyable :)
We’re currently at the information-gathering stage, but we plan to make it more presentable.
Your help in any small way would be appreciated!! For example, some things we have conceptualised but not implemented are: a collage of tumblr posts from people who just finished the novel, posts that sound fake but are not, etc. Which we just can’t do on our own, so every contribution is very helpful!
Also… ORV Twitter has already made their version of this (which is linked in the doc)… I think it’s our turn :)
If you want to help, please contact me in any way (on tumblr ofc) Alternatively you can just suggest edits to the document as a commenter!
white 44 year old twitter user with a03 addict in their bio: omg the dad from cocomelon is actually kind of a litty dilf? and his relationship with the mailman is kind of enemies to lovers villaincore let me know if i should make them both pee on eachother
worlds youngest and yet most verbose baby online: can you seriously like knock if off man im trying to learn about the rhombus
white 44 year old twitter user with a03 addict in their bio: fuck off worlds youngest and yet most verbose baby. just another puriteen minor inserting themselves into adult spaces. go play in the sandbox Also heres ur dox: 123 Circle Road ….. yea i have that….if someone shows up to your house and shoots you and kills you then thats deserved 🤷♂️ know your fucking place and get the hell out of the cocomelon fandom if youre not ready to see dark topics
a scientist at mit about to change the world forever: i just made my own centipede by sewing all the dead flies in my room together with all the dead ants in my room 😃☝️
the first man made centipede: kill me again
people will make up a horny online person to be mad at and get mad at their own imagination
ghgngngnngngnghhh …. fucuuuuckkkk…. musttt…. invent…. more people to get mad at ……. for doxxing….. youngest most verbose baby….. ggoguhghhehhhhhh *beep * beep * beep* uhrggvhhhh fucuujkkkkk i have to many people to invent in my heaaaad *beerp *beeeeeep
Does Tumblr's status of being the hellsite prevent it from being counted as a social media? I used to say I don't use social media but now I need to ask a Tumblr professional if that statement still stands.
We’ve renamed the “Include stuff in your orbit” dashboard setting to “Include posts liked by the blogs you follow”. It still controls the same behavior: whether or not you’ll see posts liked by blogs you follow in your Following feed. Also, reminder that you can hide your own likes from this feature in your blog settings.
On web, on the mobile layout of the site, we’ve shuffled the order of the items in the navigation drawer slightly.
🛠 Fixed
We fixed an issue with the activity graph on web that could cause your browser to cache an outdated copy of the data. Now your browser should refresh with the latest data every time you visit that page.
🚧 Ongoing
Nothing to report here today.
🌱 Upcoming
Starting tomorrow (July 19th), some of you will see a new navigation layout for the desktop website that we’re experimenting with.
Experiencing an issue?File a Support Request and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!
Hello, devs! I respect the idea behind the new layout (I assume the intent was for clarity, with the navigation links always visible and labelled), but sorry, the desktop site just looks ugly now. You’d think with the navigation now on the left instead of in a header, the dashboard would be more visible, but in practise, the dashboard feels so much more cluttered with Things To Look At, between the radar and the recommended stuff and so on, with just a tiny little area left for the actual dashboard content. A header with a row of icons is much more elegant. Are the icons so esoteric that new users might be confused by them? I really doubt it.
(Please don’t think this is a knee-jerk rejection of Twitter, either; even if it wasn’t circling the drain, I’ve always thought Twitter’s modern layout was also ugly, for all the above reasons. But I’m echoing everyone else that trying to court Twitter users by mimicking its layout and alienating your existing userbase is really not the way to go!)
Does anyone remember what happened to Radio Shack?
They started out selling niche electronics supplies. Capacitors and transformers and shit. This was never the most popular thing, but they had an audience, one that they had a real lock on. No one else was doing that, so all the electronics geeks had to go to them, back in the days before online ordering. They branched out into other electronics too, but kept doing the electronic components.
Eventually they realize that they are making more money selling cell phones and remote control cars than they were with those electronic components. After all, everyone needs a cellphone and some electronic toys, but how many people need a multimeter and some resistors?
So they pivoted, and started only selling that stuff. All cellphones, all remote control cars, stop wasting store space on this niche shit.
And then Walmart and Target and Circuit City and Best Buy ate their lunch. Those companies were already running big stores that sold cellphones and remote control cars, and they had more leverage to get lower prices and selling more stuff meant they had more reasons to go in there, and they couldn’t compete. Without the niche electronics stuff that had been their core brand, there was no reason to go to their stores. Everything they sold, you could get elsewhere, and almost always for cheaper, and probably you could buy 5 other things you needed while you were there, stuff Radio Shack didn’t sell.
And Radio Shack is gone now. They had a small but loyal customer base that they were never going to lose, but they decided to switch to a bigger but more fickle customer base, one that would go somewhere else for convenience or a bargain. Rather than stick with what they were great at (and only they could do), they switched to something they were only okay at… putting them in a bigger pond with a lot of bigger fish who promptly out-competed them.
If Radio Shack had stayed with their core audience, who knows what would have happened? Maybe they wouldn’t have made a billion dollars, but maybe they would still be around, still serving that community, still getting by. They may have had a small audience, but they had basically no competition for that audience. But yeah, we only know for sure what would happen if they decided to attempt to go more mainstream: They fail and die. We know for sure because that’s what they did.
I don’t know why I keep thinking about the story of what happened to Radio Shack. It just keeps feeling relevant for some reason.
well we had a terrible run guys. just absolutely godawful. the worst anyones ever done it. i forgot where i was going with this
for anyone whos dash hasnt updated yet:
the fact that they did this the day AFTER the @wip inbox closes so people cant give feedback until next week……….
(Full disclosure, I haven’t been hit with the update yet and tend to use Tumblr on a fairly large desktop monitor, so the left-hand side has always been a large swathe of unused space.)
Sincerely, and genuinely without malice, I don’t understand why this is bad. It’s more cluttered visually, I understand that, but it’s more user-friendly, especially for people coming from other websites (Twitter, Reddit, Facebook…). I’m curious why people don’t like it?
So, as my own disclosure, I keep everything on the right side hidden, so it was just blank on either side.
A few thoughts about why people might hate it:
It’s change. It’s change with no warning and only some of us being used as guinea pigs without volunteering. There are people who would love to be in the beta. There used to be(?) a toggle box for it! Set a beta group and get actual feedback.
Completely fucked with our muscle memory.
I think this is breaking some things people were able to hide before, and they’re being hit with old and new changes at once.
It’s so blatantly a twitter clone- the user group people wanted the least back on tumblr. And a site people actively (rightfully) have a lot of hate for.
All of the left side is now VERY in your face, were before it was just up top, out of the way. It makes it feel very invasive.
It is a lot on my tablet/laptop screen.
OH GODS THE SIDE BLOG PAGE IT BURNS US
It’s just… so much at once.
Absolute visual overload.
I’m reblogging yours since it’s the most concise and also sums up what everyone else is saying.
I understand now! Thank you. I agree with some of what you’re saying, but I’m waiting to see what it’s like when I get my hands on it.
no really, squeeze it. Does it feel like it’s got sand in it? is’s sharpening sand. Stab the tip of your needle into it back and forth and it’ll help put a sharp edge back on a pin or needle that’s been blunted by use, or has a little bit of rust on it. It can’t fix anything worse then a little of either, and won’t work on something REALLY blunted, but its a lifesaver.
also it is a pepper
It’s not a pepper and it’s not for sharpening!!
It may seem like it should be a pepper, since that would go better with the flavour of a tomato (and the mass produced modern ones are admittedly more pepper shaped), but it is and has always been a strawberry. Here are some antique emery strawberries, which are much more strawberry shaped, and some of them have seeds.
And it’s for cleaning needles, not sharpening them. I can’t imagine how jamming a blunt needle point around in a bunch of loose grit could possibly sharpen it in any significant way, and all the historical sources I’ve seen only talk about cleaning.
“Every sewer’s work basket or work box should contain an emery bag, as shown in Fig. 2, through which to push a needle when it becomes rough, squeaks, or sticks in the material. An emery bag is usually shaped like a strawberry and consists of a rough denim bag filled with emery powder, which is a very hard material used for polishing metals. Such a bag may be purchased for 5 or 10 cents in any store that sells sewing materials. Needles often become rusted from the perspiration of the hands or from being left in damp places. The beginner may use a small emery bag to remove rust; or, a small piece of emery paper may be used instead.”
“An emery bag is inexpensive and is useful to keep needles polished and smooth. If the hands perspire and it is difficult to push the needle through the cloth, running the needle through the emery will relieve the condition.”
“It was very hot to sit and sew. The needle would get sticky in spite of all the little emery strawberry could give it, and Beth’s fingers had never felt so clumsy and uncomfortable.”
This patent from 1873 mentions an emery slab for sharpening pins, which is quite different from a cushion, and which sounds like it actually would work for sharpening.
“C is a slab of emery or other sharp and fine grit, for sharpening needles or pins”
Then later down the page it also says
“E is an emery cushion, secured in the body of the holder A, and is used for polishing needles and keeping them smooth.”
So. Strawberry for cleaning. Not pepper for sharpening.
Gentle reminder - modern sewing tools are made from treated or plated metal, or stainless steel. In terms of human civilisation, this is a wild advance of technology. Needles are some of our oldest tools; rust was formerly ubiquitous, and attacked every form of everyday metal. A rusty needle tears fabric, or worse, stains it. The luxury and technology of rustproof needles and pins - forgotten in a few generations of human memory - and yet it is remembered in the strawberry. Memory is stored in the strawberry!
The problem? Users find it hard to navigate new websites (they’re incompetent and incapable of learning, reading and memorizing).
The solution? Web 4.0, the new and improved internet. Setting up or upgrading a website has never been easier! You may now choose between one of only 3 templates:
Twitter clone
TikTok clone
Shopify store
That’s it. That’s the entire internet now. This is a good thing. Please clap.
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