Single Topic Blogs
About
Single Topic Blogs are online publications frequently updated with theme-specific media content, in many cases through user-generated contributions. In comparison to other types of collaborative blogs, single topic blog are designed with minimal emphasis on site features and authorship of published materials. Instead, they are heavily geared towards facilitating mass replication of specific memes/media through providing custom image macro generators and relying on user-generated content/submission.
Origin
The concept of single topic blogging has existed in various forms for decades, beginning with Usenet newsgroups and niche interest BBS communities in the early 1990s. Following the arrival of CMS publishing platforms like LiveJournal, Blogger in the late 1990s and Wordpress in 2003, it became a common trend to blog about one particular subject rather than many.
In early 2000s, numerous photo blogs focusing on media curation bound by a single theme began to emerge, such as the French photo fad website Γ Plat Ventre" and the photo-a-day blog Project 365 in 2004 and the contagious media website Crying While Eating in 2005. The format took a leap forward in the late 2000s with the rise of shortform or microblogging platforms like Tumblr and Twitter, which gave way to some of the first single topic blogs like F**k My Life in January 2008, as well as Look At This Fucking Hipster[10] in March 2009.
Spread
Following the viral coverage[8][9] of Look At These Fucking Hipsters in early 2009, several other niche-themed photo blogs began to follow suit on Tumblr, including This is Why You're Fat, Stuff White People Like, Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves and Nic Cage as Everyone among others. In June 2009, Slate[3] published an article about the trend of single topic blogs, crediting Tumblr's easy publishing and collaborating methods as the driving force of the meme. In December, internet culture blog Urlesque[1] announced its picks for the Best Single Topic Blogs of 2009, which consisted of Awkward Family Photos, FML, Shit My Dad Says, There I Fixed It and This is Why You're Fat.
Single topic blogs have since become an integral publishing tool in the meme-making process for various purposes, from introducing experimental ideas to facilitating the growth and spread of existing memes. On Tumblr, the format is used to curate a wide range of viral media and internet memes, most notably advice animal image macros, photoshopped images and animated reaction faces among others.
Occasionally, the title of a trendsetting single topic blog is replicated by other derivative sites, such as the prefixes "Look at This X," "Fuck Yeah Y" and "Stuff X People Like." In January 2011, the meta Tumblr site Single Topic Blog of Single Topic Blogs[6] was launched to curate the best examples of narrowly themed media.
Notable Examples
FAIL Blog
Engrish Funny
Text From Last Night
This is Why You're Fat
Once Upon a Win
Graph Jam
Look at this Fucking Hipster
Playing Dead
Engrish
Sad Guys on Trading Floor
Stuff White People Like
Awkward Family Photos
Asleep on the Subway
F U Penguin
Crying While Eating
Disgusting Makeouts
Cake Wreck
Owl Tattoos
Happiest People Ever
Overheard in NY
Awkward Boners
Look at this Douchebag
KanyeGate
Playing Dead
Totally Looks Like
I Can Haz Cheeseburger?
UgliestTattoos
My Life is G
1000 Awesome Things
There, I Fixed It
People of Walmart
That Will Buff Out
Fuck Yeah Sharks
This is Photobomb
High-deas
Not Always Right
Epicute: Cute Food Blog
Why the F Do You Have Kids
Search Interest
[not available]
External References
[1] Urlesque β Best New Single-Topic Blog -- 2009 Urlies
[2] Urlesque β Best New Single Topic Blog of the Year -- 2010 Urlies
[3] Slate β Hipsters, Tempura Burgers, and Pets Who Want To Kill Themselves
[4] Reach Further β The single-topic blog β favourite examples of humour
[5] Guardian β This column will change your life: Is it really hip to be glum?
[6] Tumblr β Single Topic Blogs of Single Topic Blogs
[7] Tumblr β Tagged Results for Single Topic Blogs
[8] FREEWilliamsburg β Look at This Fucking Hipster
[9] THe Morning News β Look at This Fucking Hipster Basher
[10] Tumblr β Look At This Fucking Hipster
Display Comments