Tumblr is a social media platform that has been around for years. It started in 2007, quickly gaining popularity in the fandom spaces as a way to connect with other individuals who share the same interests. The platform’s popularity has had a lot of rises and falls, and it seems that right now, the idea of Tumblr is somewhat popular again; however, it’s like people have no idea what users of the platform are actually like. There has also been a rise in fanfiction in fandom spaces again, but people don’t treat it the same way as they did years ago.

There has been a rise in Tumblr usage recently, and it’s gained its popularity again as more fandoms rise since there are a lot of people who want a platform with minimal bullying and a place where there isn’t as much hate and judgment. The main misconception about Tumblr users and the platform is the “social justice things”. The first thing a lot of people think of when they think of Tumblr is most likely the social justice thing back in around 2016-2018, where it was mainly used to hate and bully minority groups. The reason that this is a misconception with Tumblr is that people seem and seemed to think that the users would “force it into everything” and get upset and/or aggressive if people did not agree with them, but that in itself is false. When the social justice warrior situations were popular, it was really only ever targeted at people who shared their art or opinions that included race, sexuality, and gender. There have always been parts of social media and fandom spaces where people create things about characters to make them feel more personal to them, and a lot of the time, the people who were targets of the social justice warrior situation back then were only people who wanted to share their thoughts and make themselves feel a little more represented and comfortable. A key detail with the social justice warriors was also the fact that they were feminists, and the overexaggeration that there was for that detail alone was another misconception.

To give it to the people, sometimes, key words, sometimes, there were a small bunch that were aggressive, and they were rude, but even if they were, that does not excuse the blatant hate, racism, sexism, and homophobia that people would spread and build their own community on. Tumblr eventually, because of this situation, got a reputation of being ‘hateful’, and a lot from people who were not users of the platform. Now that people seem less scared to use the platform and now that they feel they want to engage in their fandoms and interests with minimal judgment, Tumblr has gotten a better reputation, and people are starting to realize that the “social justice warrior” trope and the insane amount of hate the people got was most likely rooted in racism, sexism, and homophobia.

With the rise of fandoms, especially with the release of the Heated Rivalry show adaptation, there has also been a rise in the talk about fanfiction, but how much of the talk is actually about people who read or write it? Obviously, a lot of people, especially on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, are using fanfiction as the butt of their jokes, but what does that mean for fanfiction platforms like Archive of Our Own? Following the popularity of Heated Rivalry, there have definitely been more users on Archive of Our Own, but with the popularity and talk of the site, people who aren’t necessarily suited for a platform like that have also made their way to the platform. The only issue with the people who are not used to or don’t like the contents they could find on there being on a very “free” platform like that, is that they will, without a doubt, stumble upon something they might not like. There has also been the misuse of tags on the site, and tags are meant to be able to see what the story contains, so when there is misuse of them, it makes it easier for people to accidentally find something and read something they did not want to read in the first place. Fanfiction has always been relatively popular, with things like Twilight being just that, but why exactly is it popular now? The answer is simple, and it is because people who have read and watched Heated Rivalry want more of the characters. They want more stories, and with dedicated writers, more stories are possible. The more people talk about fanfiction and the more mainstream it becomes, the more people will proudly write and express their creativity and interests with their characters, or existing characters, and it is slowly becoming that way, but how long until it’s fully embraced by the majority? Probably not until people learn that it’s not as weird and problematic as it’s been described in the past media, much like Tumblr.