Tumblr’s ecosystem prizes users who consider and debate cultural objects elaborately and at length, and unlike the sharing tools of most social networks, Tumblr’s reblog feature encourages posts to grow and mutate and branch into intricate, raucous conversations, snowballing and collecting new thoughts along the way. Tumblr’s biggest communities are its many fandoms, equal parts earnest and ironic, all operating at exaggerated levels, engrossed in crafting noncanonical (i.e., unofficial) theories about their favorite movies, TV shows, and YouTube series. At the heart of Tumblr is a concept referred to as “The Discourse,” the overarching conversation that the site’s many communities - often focusing on social justice, pop-culture fandom, or ironic nonsense humor - participate in.
