so i just had my first popular post since the tumblr migration, and i'm definitely noticing from my notifs that the new people from tumblr brought over a different reblog culture than existed here before. i'm noticing that those who reblog aren't liking as much and vice versa, and there's as roughly many reblogs as there are likes. i've been used to people pairing likes and reblogs on here, but i'm not as used to the idea of reblogging without a like.
i thought that was really interesting. this just cemented my view that the tumblr migration was definitely as impactful if not more impactful than the initial twitter influx that brought me here which is kind of crazy. also have you seen @chostcount lately?? it's settled down at more than double the pre-tumblr migration levels
for the most part, i use likes as a combination of "i genuinely liked this post, good job!" to the author and as a bookmark to come back to later, the same way i did on twitter. back when i first joined, the "posts you've liked" section didn't exist, so i dropped likes like candy but ever since they introduced that section liking things has become a rarer occasion.
i also do "courtesy likes" to people who respond to or riff of of my posts most of the time which honestly is a pretty shallow way to interact lol. @chirasul's post the other day about comments got me thinking about this again
I am also a Tumblr user (or ex-user, the way things are going). I am also an artist and have shared my work on Tumblr before and that has really contributed to my dislike of likes - and I think any artists reading this know where I am going with this.
Likes are basically the most non-engaging form of engagement the site offers. They are basically like giving the post author a little thumbs up and then walking away. It's like telling the author "I liked whatever you posted but I'm not going to do anything to engage with it or help others see it."
And that stings as an artist trying to put your work out there. I appreciate any and all engagement and kind words people offer to me and my work, but it doesn't feel great seeing a bunch of Likes, 2 Reblogs, and 0 comments. I am happy those people enjoyed my work, but their choice to not reblog means my work - my post - is effectively dead in the water and will never spread outside my direct followers.
