Hello reader,
I have a confession to make…I
sometimes fail at ‘interneting’. Now, I understand that the internet it a huge
place that can be confusing. I can manage it most of the time, but sometimes it
gets very confusing for me. The one site that confuses me the most is Tumblr.
Tumblr. I’m sure we’ve all heard of
it. It’s everything. If Tumblr was a non-virtual place, it’ll probably be one
huge mental hospital that’s full of all kinds of crazy people…or Wonderland.
You know… the place that Alice stumbles into? I personally love the Alice in
Wonderland description. “We’re all mad
here.” But really, Tumblr is a magical world filled with strange creatures
and like Alice, I went tumbling into it. (See what I did there?)
I first got Tumblr about 4 years
ago as my online portfolio for my photos and artworks. I didn’t know how to use
it and I kept seeing screencaps of funny Tumblr conversations with comments on
other websites. I marveled, “You can comment on Tumblr!? How do I do that?” I
never found out. I generally sucked at Tumblr, therefore I stopped updating my
portfolio and went in search of greener pastures – Behance, which is a really
excellent platform for online portfolios.
I forgot about Tumblr and was only
occasionally reminded about it by ‘birthday’ emails from the Tumblr staff, in
which they told me how old my blog was. A few months ago I discovered the
awesomeness that is Buzzfeed. Seriously, that site is amazing! If you know
Buzzfeed you’d know how they constantly feature stuff from Tumblr and so...I wanted
back in. I found out that a dear friend of mine had a personal Tumblr blog
(which she kept secret can you believe it!?) and I immediately went scrolling
through it to and she had a lot of posts like the ones featured on Buzzfeed.
That did it. I was going to Tumbl! Whoo whoo! *literally tumbles*
I ‘dusted’ off my old blog, started
following a lot of new blogs, reblogging and posting every now and again.
Slowly Quickly my blog transformed from a portfolio to a personal blog. This is where it
started getting confusing for me. The very first time I tried to post a gif, I
didn’t know how. Don’t laugh, but I Googled the gif I wanted then copied the
URL and pasted it on Tumblr. I was puzzled when I viewed my blog because
instead of a moving picture, I was looking at a link. *sigh* I then consulted the
above friend for help (she is now my unofficial Tumblr consultant). Now I know
how to properly post gifs but I don’t know how to tag another blogger or how to
post a gif set. I’m learning though and goodness gracious, I feel like an old
lady who’s just discovering technology.
The technicalities of Tumblr are
not the only confusing aspects of it. Its users are! Daily I’m confronted by
strange jargon and abbreviations I’ve never seen before and no I’m not talking
about that word I loathe ‘bae’. I kept seeing abbreviations like AU, (y/n) and
IRL. Buzzfeed uses a lot of them as well. My friend kindly explained to me that
AU means Alternate Universe and (y/n) (which appears on most gif sets) means (your
name). I actually asked her who (y/n) is and this took me back to when my
sister laughed me out of her room when I asked her who ‘nuff was, as in the
phrase, "‘nuff said" (enough said). As for IRL, I told myself that I wasn’t a moron and I could
at least Google that (I’m really great with Google, yay!) and it stands for
'In Real Life'. If you reader, are perhaps like me and didn’t know what these
abbreviations meant then you do know now! You’re welcome.
That said… I am not entirely bad at
interneting or Tumbling, if you will. I mean, I figured out Reddit! Well, uhm…
I’m getting there. But look! I made great strides on my first day there and I
wasn’t even reading a Reddit AMA (Google it if you don’t know it). I love
learning and I love discovering new things. I really love the internet, it can
be very lovely. And I love Tumblr too… duh!
Let me know if there have ever been
instances when you failed at interneting so I can virtually pat your hand and
nod sympathetically with you as I pour a cup of tea for you.
Happy interneting!
‘Til next time,
-Bella
