Tumblr vs. LJ?

[charmian]

Prompted by fears that people are abandoning LJ for Tumblr, some LJ users have started a movement for people to take a month-long break from Tumblr.

http://oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com/576168.html
http://captaincatapult.livejournal.com/202549.html
http://glassbomb.livejournal.com/533599.html

While I have no interest in participating in such a campaign, I hadn't realized that so many people were apparently moving from LJ to Tumblr (Tumblr's growth is continuing, though, and those new users must be coming from somewhere). Personally, I see no reason why the two can't coexist, and I suspect that Tumblr's popularity is because of its ease of use, lower pressure, and also because the personal, locked component on LJ is migrating to FB and locked Twitters (Tumblr doesn't, IIRC, have much emphasis on the locked aspects of its service).

Some highlights:


http://glassbomb.livejournal.com/533599.html?thread=10800479#t10800479 : on how Tumblr is "for pictures." Tumblr's interface for uploading pictures is much easier than LJ's, I must say.

http://captaincatapult.livejournal.com/202549.html?thread=6170421#t6170421 : Some find LJ too full of bashing of their favorite shows/characters.

http://oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com/576168.html?thread=5528232#t5528232 : Apparently, people are also starting to post fanfic on Tumblr, thus meaning that it's not only about pics there.


Anyone else have other links? Have you noticed any LJ-->Tumblr migration? I noticed that some of the people on these posts, also, are claiming they've seen a big slow-down of LJ activity compared to last year.

In any event, I think one thing which also defines Tumblr is that, unlike LJ, it's developing consciously within a niche, and they are very willing to experiment with new features, and axe them if they don't make the cut.

In other news, now you can use Twitter as an identity on LJ, meaning you can comment using your Twitter account. Reportedly, according to Russian sources, in this update you'll also be able to crosspost a Tweet digest to LJ on a daily basis automatically, and be able to view all posts by a specific user within a community.

Comments

[holyschist]

I haven't noticed a whole lot of Tumblr use in my social circle, period, probably because of the types of blogs I tend to seek out. Tumblr and LJ really seem like quite different beasts, though; I don't really view social networks as "taking users" from each other, but as users finding one SN suits their needs at the time better than another. (LJ didn't "take" me from Diaryland; I found that LJ's reading list and subscription format made the kind of interaction I wanted much easier than Dland's guest book and favorite diaries you had to click through manually format, so I gradually used LJ more and Dland less.)