March for Our Lives and Tumblr join forces for massive digital protest and D.C. livestream

Tumblr will get a massive makeover on March 24 to help promote March for Our Lives, the protest for gun violence prevention led by teenage survivors of the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

When users open Tumblr's app or visit its website on Saturday, they'll see a livestream of the march in Washington, D.C., and content related to the protest and gun violence prevention will pop up in their regular feed. It'll be the biggest site takeover Tumblr has done to date, and it's the product of a partnership between Tumblr and Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy organization, to support the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students.

"For those who can't join and aren't able to make those [sibling] marches, we're giving them some of the tools ... to be able to express themselves as part of a digital march on Tumblr," said Victoria McCullough, the company's social impact and public policy lead.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Those tools include stickers, GIFs, and illustrations designed by a collective of artists known on the site as "Creatrs." Tumblr users can then use that "protest art pack" to decorate their own blogs. Tumblr's Action page will also feature information about how to sign a petition for gun safety created by the Parkland shooting survivors as well as a form to register to vote through the nonprofit organization Rock the Vote.

McCullough said that Tumblr has taken steps to quickly identify and address any threats of violence that might surface during and in the wake of the March for Our Lives takeover. Tumblr's trust and safety team, in particular, will be on "high alert" to respond to reports of abuse.

With the takeover, Tumblr wants to educate its users about gun violence, encourage them to get involved in their own communities, and keep them engaged in the issue through the midterm elections and beyond.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Tumblr began partnering with Everytown a few years ago, and it works with the organization to identify how the company can best reach its young users with information about gun violence prevention.

A few days prior to the march, Tumblr devoted an "Answer Time" — the platform's popular Q&A series — to Ashley Cech, a survivor program associate at Everytown, and the daughter of Yvonne Cech, the Sandy Hook school librarian who survived the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Participants asked Cech about how to deal with conservative backlash to the student-led movement, how to support someone affected by gun violence, and whether arming teachers is a good idea.

Taylor Maxwell, deputy communications director of Everytown, said that Tumblr is an "incredible" way to reach teens and students. And since the shooting in Parkland, young people began showing considerable interest in joining the gun safety movement. That led to the formation of a new Everytown initiative called Students Demand Action.

"I think a lot of Saturday on Tumblr and beyond is going to be about making sure students know they have a way of getting their voice heard," Maxwell said.

McCullough hopes the takeover helps Tumblr sharpen its approach to educating users, while also keeping the conversation about gun violence prevention front-and-center — until, at the very least, young voters cast a ballot in the midterm election this fall.

"The most important thing — and it's so symbolic of these kids and their sophistication and organizing — is really seeing the long game," McCullough said.

Voting, she emphasized, "will be the thing that ultimately changes the conversation."