Over recent years various social media sites have been created, developed and praised; sensations such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have now become staple examples. Let's face it, if the world of social media was a colour spectrum these three would be primary colours (I know, my metaphorical skills are second to none.)
Along with the use of and communication about some social networking sites however comes a certain stigma or even several, many of which I myself, as a user of a wide range of sites, have recently started to notice more than usual.
The site that immediately comes to mind for me is Tumblr, a micro-blogging website first available to internet users in 2007. Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform allowing bloggers to post and reblog various types of media such as photos, text posts and videos. The site itself has been through many technical changes over the years, and I'm sure that if I compared my 'dashboard' now to when I first joined in 2009 I would be able to highlight many of these changes. When I first created my Tumblr page at the age of sixteen, it was quickly overtaking both Bebo and My Space as the new social media mecca. Soon, 'Tumblr famous', as they were known by users, bloggers were created which just made the use of the site even more sought after. I spent a sizable portion of my day on Tumblr during this period, exemplified by my Dad jokingly writing 'sponsored by Lil' next to the entry in an Internet focused dictionary we owned. As with most trends though, over the coming years these 'Tumblr famous' icons started to abandon their ask boxes and 'Tumblr crushes', with some claiming they felt it was no longer appropriate to use the page; most often this appeared to be down to age. As I write this, I realise that of the blogs I follow on Tumblr, almost all of the users are in their late teens or early twenties; why is it considered taboo to continue blogging on Tumblr after a certain age? If so, why the hell have celebrities such as Beyonce got an account? (Ignoring the fact Beyonce is Beyonce and therefore doesn't need an excuse to do anything, obviously.) Excluding age as a factor though, I still know for a fact that a lot of Tumblr users would not wish to stand on top of a cliff and proudly declare to everyone that they have a Tumblr account. I know this because honestly, I'm not sure I would if someone dared me to. When a new friend tells me they have a Tumblr I feel a sense of excitement, as if I'm almost a freak for using it, and I have no idea why I feel that way and always have done. Sure, there are some parts of the site that I'm a tad wary of accidentally coming across, often to do with certain fandoms, but loads of other social media outlets have these scary sides too (just take the One Direction fandom on Twitter.)
Tumblr seems to definitely be the worst offender when it comes to being embarrassed about the use of social media, but it's not just the now Yahoo owned page that is sometimes talked about in hushed tones, both online and offline. The world of fanfiction gets an astonishingly bad rep, particularly fics that contain 'smut', a synonym for erm, 'sexy times.' Fanfiction is written by fans of certain cultural phenomenons, mostly television shows and music artists; stories are created for further entertainment for fellow fans, so they can, if you like, continue the story of an episode. Openly exclaiming that you read fanfic is considered a brave choice by many, especially if you do so on a daily basis, using websites such as LiveJournal (established in 1999, also used for other purposes.) This is because fanfic is immediately linked to smut, and in some peoples' views you may as well be watching pornographic material; R-rated stories even have warnings before you begin to read. Whether fanfiction is really as explicit as porn is of course a personal opinion, but let me just say, reading 50 Shades of Grey isn't considered taboo so how the hell is fanfiction any different?
How you present yourself on social networking sites is a whole different ballgame; in a way it's just like the real world. The language you use, your physical appearance and cultural preferences are constantly judged by others whether you're aware of it or not and in some cases, online this can get ugly. The use of one social networking site, such as the above examples, to be deemed 'embarrassing' however I believe is not necessarily needed, especially as social media continues to thrive and create new outlets for people to express their feelings and interests.
I've only written about Tumblr and fanfiction in this post, but I'd be interested to hear from you guys if you at times feel ashamed to admit to using other social networking sites, and why do you think this is the case? Unless it's Bebo in which case come on guys, I don't care if it's been re-branded, that period of social media is o-v-e-r.
Lily
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