And then Tumblr Just Goes and Implodes: Blog/Social Network gets a Live Chat Platform

Tumblr: great for cats, great for fandoms, great for porn, and shite for instant messaging and direct communications between users. Until now! Babblr is a pay-what-you-want Chrome plug-in that was launched into cyberspace only to crash almost immediately due to insane demand and unprepared servers. A few weeks ago it was back online and the internet, from peasants to tumblr famous, rejoiced.

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Tumblrs have been clamoring for a chat feature on the site since it shifted from a pure blogging platform to a social networking giant. Started to follow a Brony/Homestuck  blog and now want to spend your time chatting away the hours with fellow fans? Well prior to Babblr, this was mind-numbingly impossible. You could create a chain post which would get lost in your dash or abandoned because it’s a little awkward and cumbersome. You could message someone on their blog, though woe to you if you attempt to reply to someone because the messages auto-delete once a reply is made. Nonsense. Tumblr’s users don’t want to broadcast their content to have it be consumed and passed along by anonymous followers. They want interaction, feedback, and certainly most of all: community.

Here’s an explanation of how Babblr works in true Tumblr form, but in short, you won’t be able to send or receive instant messages to or from other bloggers at any time without adding them first (thank you developers for understanding your crazy userbase and protecting us from ourselves). There is also a neat group chat feature that has the potential to keep you connected with your fandoms and friends. Other functions include a censoring tool that turns certain bad words that tumblrs love into nonsensical phrases (you can totally turn this off) and the ability  to block other users with the option to unblock later on (again, thank you for your self-awareness, Babblr).

Babblr’s relaunch was made possible by support from developer Realtime.co, and the teams are currently working to bring the system to other browsers, but if you have Chrome, get Babbling!