Disillusioned Twitter users are looking for alternatives, and a few set their sights on Tumblr, the other blue microblogging platform starting with a T that you're liable to get yelled at on.
This has prompted mixed reactions at Tumblr, a site which has acquired a reputation for insularity after more than a decade of growth and stagnation—and several corporate owners. Some have welcomed the 'Twitter refugees' with open arms, providing useful advice on getting acclimated to Tumblr's very different environment. Some are just making jokes about the whole thing. And some are acting as ridiculously offputting as possible to scare Twitter users off, playing hard into Tumblr's early-2010s reputation as the home of 'cringe' and niche fandom content. These posts are referred to by Tumblr's community as 'rent-lowering gunshots'.
Having been on Tumblr for a while myself—I run a writing blog which I will absolutely not be handing out the URL to—it's hard not to sympathize with those who see the Twitter incursion as an invasion of the mainstream into what is now one of the few unique platforms left on the Internet. Whether or not it works out is anyone's guess, but at least we can take solace in the fact that Elon isn't on Tumblr, reblogging gifs of BBC's Sherlock.
