Should we all get back on Tumblr?
Why the microblogging platform might be the next best digital destination
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As social media platforms like Facebook and X started to go downhill a couple years ago, social media managers and avid users began to look for options to replace their daily scroll.
Bluesky? Mastodon? Threads? No matter what platform you picked, one truth remained: it would be easier to revamp a presence on a pre-existing platform then build an audience from scratch. That didn’t mean people didn’t try for an exodus – hence, a bit of noise around Bluesky that has lingered, but for the most part, no real new players.
Even then, I wondered to myself, “Why don’t we all just go back to Tumblr?”
Now, the thought is becoming increasingly more prevalent as I re-learn the platform, seeking to escape short-form video and a slew of irrelevant content.
I was fascinated by this carousel about Instagram posters fading into the background to become lurkers instead: “What used to be social is now observational. You’re either a creator. Or you’re the audience…What if lurking isn’t apathy but agency?…If this sample set is anything to go by, the lurkers aren’t outliers. They’re the early adopters.”
Anonymity online seems to be increasingly appealing. This is more socially acceptable on platforms like Reddit, where the policy is “anything goes,” as long as you can find the right community for it.
I’d say Tumblr has a similar air to it: it’s meant to be more of an amalgamation of your interests than a place for you to pitch your personality. Without the pressure to “sell” your lifestyle, the freedom to be creative opens back up.
Only a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I’m finding it hard to want to post on Instagram, or any social platform for that matter.
I’m out of new takes. I’m out of ideas for #funny #quirky #relatable captions. I’m tired of trying to game the algorithm just so my friends can see my content, let alone increase my overall discoverability. I’m becoming like the lurkers mentioned above, wanting only to post fleeting Stories and then chickening out of even that so as not to be perceived. It just isn’t fun anymore.
But re-entering the Tumblr algorithm has felt like slicing melted butter.
After experimenting with it a bit, using my handy tips for manipulating the algorithm, I was immediately spit out into the communities I wanted simply by following a few hashtags and engaging with a few hyper-specific posts. It felt so relieving in a social media landscape that seems to be forcing AI slop1 and irrelevant ads, as well as tanking authentic engagement if you don’t pay for the “Premium” features.
If you missed the Tumblr heyday, here’s what you need to know: it was founded in 2007 and emboldened archetypes like hipster, emo, and fangirl to progress from online profiles to real-life personas. According to Mashable, its popularity dropped off after some ownership changes and – yes – a ban on porn.
Tumblr has a mixed reputation. Some know it as the fangirl capital of the internet, while others remember it as a place that encouraged unhealthy behaviors. Nowadays, I’d say other platforms have caught up to the devil-and-the-angel-on-the-shoulder phenomenon: you can find a balance of unsavory and over-eager communities on every corner of the internet.
Despite Tumblr’s petering-out, I still frequently see Tumblr posts on my Instagram and X feeds. I’ve been unsure if they’re remnants of the past or new content. Either way, it’s been some of the content I enjoy the most.
Upon a Google search, the suggestion that Tumblr is coming back is not new. Three years ago, The New Yorker wrote “How Tumblr Became Popular for Being Obsolete.” In April, there was a surge of articles, including one from Fast Company that asserted “The Tumblr revival is real—and Gen Z is leading the charge,” and one from The Hustle Daily that asked, “Is Tumblr back again, again?”
But I don’t know, y’all. I feel like there might actually be a resurgence coming as a very subtle, but steady incline of users find it easiest to be micro-targeted there.
“According to an article by Business Insider, Gen Z makes up 50% of all Tumblr’s active monthly users, as well as 60% of new sign-ups to the website in 2025. This suggests that renewed momentum is drawing new, young social media users who yearn for a space that isn’t flooded with bots, influencers, misinformation and negative news,” Charlie Coombs wrote for Thred.
What has always made Tumblr special is its reliance on very curated aesthetics – and the ability to contribute one’s own flair to a post. It’s a hot destination for illustrators, artists, and writers. Music lovers, book nerds, anime fans, you name it. Mashable called it “fandom’s homeland.”
What makes Tumblr feel so comfortable is that its communities are hyper-niche, creative, and insulated. Happy little echo-chambers, if you will. It seems like users have a common goal: to enjoy themselves, rather than to post for capital gain.
Tumblr uses “Notes” as its catch-all term for interactions (i.e. likes, reposts, and comments). It calls reposts “Reblogs” and hashtags, “Tags.” These tags are often more fun than you’d see on other platforms, since everyone who reposts something has the option to contribute their own thoughts, unlike other platforms where you would have to create a new post or reply to the original to contribute.
“Tags can be left by people who reblog a post, but don't want to actually leave a comment. Tags for one user do not show up when another user reblogs the post,” one Reddit user wrote in an explanation of the platform.
This is unconventional because hashtags are usually used to categorize something as if it were in a folder, but when it’s an uncommon #longwindedhashtaglikethis, it essentially stops functioning as a hashtag and functions as commentary instead. I think that proves my point that the intention of the platform is fun, rather than show.
“Other social networks have increasingly siloed users into a small number of optimized content types: short texts, brief videos, pre-made memes. Tumblr is more open-ended, listing various possible post formats with icons at the top of its feed: text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio, video,” Kyle Chayka wrote for The New Yorker in 2022. “It’s one of the few social networks where users can still publish entries that resemble blog posts.”
The platform has innovated since I last looked at it (which, to be honest, was probably…2018?) It’s added Communities, which are less like subreddits2 and more like Facebook Groups. The ads on the platform have also become more invasive, which I suppose is to be expected, but still annoying. There’s “Tumblr TV,” too, which personally I’ll avoid, but could be your thing if you still want video content.
The best feature, though? Tumblr isn’t penalizing posts with links in them. X has done this since 2023, aiming to keep users on the platform, and Instagram’s Stories only work so well for promoting off-platform content. Video-based platforms like TikTok aren’t conducive to hyperlinking, either. This makes it hard for someone to promote, say, their newsletter, or art, or side projects, or anything that’s not a pre-paid ad.
According to Tumblr’s “Press Information” page, it currently hosts 620 million blogs and 7.3 million posts a day. A statistics website reported that as of May 2025, Tumblr had 135 million visitors. This is very, very low compared to the billions of users we see on mainstream platforms. It would take something major for Tumblr to catch up.
To be honest, I don’t think Tumblr is going to make sense to the average social media user, and I don’t want it to. I don’t want Tumblr to become a stale, corporatized platform where brands can push their agenda and influencers can brag about their sponsorships. Forgive me if this sounds gatekeepy, but I want it to be a place for people, not bots, or brands, or sanitized personas.
So, no, we shouldn’t all go back to Tumblr. I will, though!
Read my last story: You don’t have to do everything for Instagram
My weekly roundup:
😇 What I’m Doing: Speaking of running low on inspo, I might be posting on Substack less frequently ☹️
🎶 What I’m Listening To: Sorry Justin Bieber fans, I haven’t listened to “SWAG” yet. TBH,3 I’m still stuck on Beauty School Dropout
🎞️ What I’m Watching: The last season of Squid Game. No spoilers, please!
🔎 What I’m Reading: I reviewed “Algospeak” by
, and I highly recommend it, especially for word/social media nerds (like myself)📱 What I’m Scrolling: I have not watched Love Island USA, but I have being seeing the posts about it
Read the full Gen Z Dictionary here.
AI slop: Low quality, AI-generated content, mostly used to farm engagement
Subreddits: Niche, online communities on Reddit
TBH: To be honest