# Single Topic Blogs Single Topic Blogs are websites focused on one tightly scoped joke or theme, usually fed by reader submissions. Beginning with FML in January 2008 and breaking out with Look At This Fucking Hipster in March 2009[1], the format gave early Tumblr its signature export. By 2010, The Guardian was describing sites like Angry People In Local Newspapers and Unhappy Hipsters as the crowning cultural achievement of the internet era[2]. ## Origin The idea of blogging about one subject predates the format by a long stretch, with Usenet newsgroups and niche BBS communities doing something similar in the early 1990s before LiveJournal, Blogger and WordPress made it trivial to launch a themed site[3]. In the mid-2000s, photo-a-day projects like Project 365 and curiosity sites like Crying While Eating (2005) laid the aesthetic groundwork of one-image, one-caption, repeat-forever[3]. Two launches defined the format proper. FML opened in January 2008 as a confessional feed of short 'f*** my life' stories ending with the acronym[6]. Comedian Joe Mande launched Look At This Fucking Hipster on Tumblr in March 2009, posting candid photos of Williamsburg twentysomethings with mocking captions[5]. After Williamsburg blog Free Williamsburg and The Morning News covered the site in early 2009[4], LATFH went viral and St. Martin's Press signed Mande to a book deal that summer[1]. - **Platform:** Tumblr / WordPress (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2008 ## Overview A Single Topic Blog is a site whose entire premise is one tight running joke, usually with a URL that doubles as the punchline. Posts are short, repetitive, and usually a photo plus a one-line caption. Authorship takes a back seat to the premise, and most of the content arrives from reader submissions through a public submission form[1]. Tone varies by site but the structure stays the same. Look At This Fucking Hipster collected candid shots of Williamsburg twentysomethings with a sarcastic line each[1]. FML runs user-written confessionals that end with the acronym 'FML'[6]. Overheard in New York prints snippets of overheard dialogue with no commentary[7]. Not Always Right collects reader-submitted retail and customer-service stories in a dialogue format[8]. The pattern is the same across all of them: a specific premise, an open submission queue, and an infinite feed of near-identical posts. Because the premise is so narrow, Single Topic Blogs are easy to spin up and easy to parody. Title conventions became templates in their own right, with new sites borrowing structures like 'Look at This X,' 'Fuck Yeah Y,' and 'Stuff X People Like' from the first hits[3]. ## How to Use To make a Single Topic Blog, pick a premise narrow enough that every post feels like a variation of the same joke, usually in the shape of 'photo + one-line caption' or 'reader confession + punchline.' Common convention is to open a submission form so readers do most of the posting, to keep author bylines minimal, and to anchor the whole site in a URL or title that is itself the gag (e.g., Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves, Angry People In Local Newspapers)[1][2]. Posts typically carry no analysis, just the raw submission and a short caption. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Single Topic Blogs? Single Topic Blogs are websites focused on one tightly scoped joke or theme, usually filled with reader submissions and minimal author commentary[3]. ### Where did Single Topic Blogs come from? The format grew out of mid-2000s photo blogs and took off on Tumblr after FML launched in January 2008 and Look At This Fucking Hipster launched in March 2009[1][5]. ### What does Single Topic Blogs mean? The term refers to a blog devoted to one narrow premise, format or running gag, rather than a general-purpose site that posts about many subjects[3]. ### How do you use Single Topic Blogs? Readers open the site for a quick hit of the same joke in a new form, and participants can submit new entries through a public submission form[1]. ### Is Single Topic Blogs still popular? Many of the originals, including FML and Not Always Right, still publish new reader submissions in the mid-2020s[6][8]. ### Who started Look At This Fucking Hipster? Comedian Joe Mande launched the site in March 2009 and signed a book deal with St. Martin's Press that summer[1]. ### What was the first viral single topic blog? FML opened in January 2008, and Look At This Fucking Hipster was the first to go properly viral in spring 2009 after Williamsburg press coverage[4]. ### Which single topic blogs got book deals? Look At This Fucking Hipster, This Is Why You're Fat, and Pets Who Want To Kill Themselves all landed book deals by mid-2009[1]. ### What was Single Topic Blog of Single Topic Blogs? A meta Tumblr launched in January 2011 to catalogue the best examples of the one-theme-per-site format[9]. ### Did news outlets write about single topic blogs? Yes, Slate ran a trend piece in July 2009[1] and The Guardian wrote about the 'ridiculously specific single-topic blog' in February 2010[2]. ### What title conventions did single topic blogs reuse? Early hits inspired templates like 'Look at This X,' 'Fuck Yeah Y,' and 'Stuff X People Like' that newer sites borrowed[3]. ## References 1. [https://slate.com/technology/2009/07/this-is-why-you-re-fat-and-other-great-single-topic-blogs.html]() 2. [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/27/change-your-life-hip-to-be-glum]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/single-topic-blogs]() 4. [https://themorningnews.org/article/look-at-this-fucking-hipster-basher]() 5. [https://lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com/archive]() 6. [https://www.fmylife.com/]() 7. [https://overheardinnewyork.com/]() 8. [https://notalwaysright.com/]() 9. [http://singletopicblogofsingletopicblogs.com/archive]() 10. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100603053954/http://ugliesttattoos.com/]() 11. [http://www.urlesque.com/2009/11/17/new-single-topic-blog-2009-urlies/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/single-topic-blogs Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library