The End of Tumblr Live (and discussing its awfully personal alternative)

Hey everyone, Bit here. Tumblr is ending its live-streaming service and directing people to an app that is awfully personal for the purpose of replacing it.

What is Tumblr and its live streaming service?

Tumblr (tumblr.com) is a blogging platform structured more like a social media app. It allows much longer posts than Twitter does, and also allows you to have multiple blocks of content (like a title and some text and an image, or a title and some images with text after each one).

Tumblr Live, the live-streaming service offered by Tumblr, was developed in a partnership with a company called The Meet Group (themeetgroup.com) using their Livebox backend. Even though you had to scrutinize blogs and streams to find something that was actually OK to watch, there were some actually good people there that I even followed on other platforms. Sadly, Tumblr will end this service on January 24, 2024.

Who is The Meet Group?

The Meet Group is a company focused around live interaction on the Internet. They have 4 apps listed on their website: MeetMe, Skout, Tagged, and Growlr. All of The Meet Group’s apps are focused on generating IRL interactions through Internet meetups. They aren’t really designed for online dating, but can be used for such. Each app seems to have a different purpose. MeetMe is mostly focused on the US, Skout is more of a global app, Tagged has resonance with black people, and Growlr was specifically designed for gay men.

They have a live-streaming backend called Livebox, which is what Tumblr Live was based on. Livebox is mostly designed around being a safe environment as well as fostering monetized content creation. Livebox-based platforms (including The Meet Group’s own platforms) feature costreaming, streamer battles, and features for finding random costreamers like NextGuest and NextDate.

What is the alternative Tumblr is directing people to and why do I think it is bad?

Tumblr, in their support article about the end of Live, is directing people to transfer their Tumblr Live data to MeetMe. I understand that Tumblr is suggesting MeetMe because it is owned by The Meet Group, but MeetMe is not a viable alternative to Tumblr Live in a few ways.

• It is awfully personal for the purpose. During streams, people can only ever see your name. It is possible to sign up for MeetMe without giving out your real name, but they highly encourage giving out your real name. However, if someone views your profile on a stream, they can see your age and gender. Your gender may be worth having people know, but some people (like me) may believe that their age is personal information and should not be widely shared. (correction: your birthdate is personal information, not your age. but i'm still nervous about sharing my age.)
• They encourage sharing precise location data. When signing up for the app, it’s not just enough to give them a country or city in words. They want you to give a ZIP code. This details your location down to the exact city. I had to change my profile to where it just said that I lived in a big city around me instead of the actual town that I live in.
• It is impossible to be private on MeetMe. You can lock down who can interact with you, but your profile is always public and can be seen by anyone if they know your username or find you in a stream chat or streaming yourself. I do like that you can prevent some strangers from reaching you directly, however.

What is the verdict?

If you were using Tumblr Live, then you can use MeetMe if you want. If you don’t want to use MeetMe, there are a few platforms to consider.

• Twitch: Basically the most popular platform out there for game streaming. If you were some who just liked to chat on Tumblr Live, you can set your stream category to Just Chatting and do the same things you always were. Streaming from mobile devices is supported too, just like Tumblr and MeetMe.
• Kick: A competitor to Twitch. I don’t know much about streaming on Kick.
• YouTube: The most popular general video website. Streaming from their app is limited until you have more than 1000 subscribers (followers), however. Streaming on mobile for beginner creators should be done using a third-party app like Streamlabs.
• TikTok: A popular platform for shorts. They have a live-streaming feature, but it’s disabled until you have at least 1000 followers.
• Instagram: A popular platform for sharing photos, created by Meta (parent of Facebook). Their offering is the closest to Tumblr’s and MeetMe’s, with open streaming focused on mobile devices but without the strong monetization offered by Tumblr and MeetMe.

That’s the end of this. This is the first time I’ve used Listed, and I’ll be using it again if I ever need to write something that’s WAY outside the bounds of Twitter.