On Tumblr: How it Gave Light to Pseudonymity and Cyber-bullying

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Recommended: Social media and its effect on this generation

Today’s generation utilizes a different medium of communication which is social networking. Different social networking sites are introduced over the years such as Facebook, Twitter, Formspring and lastly, Tumblr. Tumblr, a social networking site that gained popularity in the Philippines, is becoming an avenue for people to express themselves which is being overused through pseudonymity and degrades the self esteem of an individual.

Tumblr is defined by Pearson (2009) as a social-networking site which is a photo-blog platform which enables its users to post anything that they wish. David Karp created it because he wanted something less verbose yet it mediates between the capabilities of Facebook and Wordpress: Facebook enables its users to post photos and “like” them while Wordpress is the best medium to start a blog. Karp’s idea became successful because Tumblr allows the users to have an account, or as they call it the “tumble blog” which permits them to post texts, photos, quotations, links, videos and the like. The difference between Tumblr and the aforementioned social networking sites is its capability to reblog or repost another user’s posts without the permission of the original owner of the post. According to Tumblr itself, an average Tumblr user reposts at least 3 posts per month. According to Alexa.com, Tumblr was cited as the 11th most popular website in the Philippines.

On Tumblr, a person can impersonate a different person’s identity through posting different pictures, videos and blog posts to become an ideal teenager in the society. Tumblr focuses on the idea of popularity that is why people tend to reblog things for them to be appealing to the others, and for users to obtain more followers. The number of ...

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...Program Transcript]. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Pearson, E. (2009). All the World Wide Web’s a Stage: The Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks. First Monday, 14(3). 11 September 2011, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2162/2127

Thompson, C. (2008, September 5). Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?_r=1.

Jobling, V. (2011). Anonymity: The Default Identity for Cyber-bullies on Social Networks. Retrieved 11 September, 2011 from http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/anonymity-the-default-identity-for- cyber-bullies-on-social-networks/

Anonymous. Top Sites in the Philippines. Retrieved 11 September, 2011 from http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/PH

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