Since coming back from winter break, we have talked a lot about archives and what they constitute in ASTU. What I find particularly interesting is the digital branch of archives, namely that of social media sites such as Facebook and, as Amelia pointed out, Vine. I also enjoyed reading Allison’s post about Facebook and how it portrays our lives in an inaccurately ‘happy’ way, without the struggles and failures of our lives, contributing to a future knowledge gap. This immediately made me think of the blogging site Tumblr, which has long been portrayed in the teen world as a form of diary or autobiograpahical site.
The difference between Tumblr and Facebook is that unlike Facebook, Tumblr can be completely anonymous, creating a space where bloggers can say exactly what they are feeling and talk about the struggles in their lives without fear of reciprocation from their peers. Tumblr is often thought of by its users as a community where sharing parts of one’s life, both good and bad, is safe. The site has hundreds of sub-genres of blogs, such as fandom blogs or nature blogs. It is within these communities that members are able to find others to connect with and can truly create bonds and friendships.
The diary aspect of Tumblr can essentially be a form of archive, as it presents a place where bloggers can write about their lives, both good and bad. Where Facebook contains a “natural silence,” defined in Rodney Carter’s article “Of Things Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence” as silences “entered into by choice, often to allow for reflection and personal growth” (228), Tumblr lets that silence of the traumatic events or failures in one’s life be voiced. On this site these natural silences can be discussed, which can allow posters to reflect on what has happened. It can also create a bridge for the knowledge gap which can be found in Facebook archives. Granted, not every Facebook user has a Tumblr, but it’s a start. This act of connecting the two sites would be extremely difficult to do for future archivists, however, because not many Tumblr users link their Tumblr blogs to their Facebook profiles or any other social media sites because of the pros to anonymity.
The idea of social media sites as archives is rather new because these social media sites are rather new themselves. If we think towards the future we can perhaps imagine how these sites will be archived and what silences and gaps there may be and perhaps attempt to fill them. As for now, I along with many others will keep discreetly posting about my life on Tumblr.