Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking platform that allows users to share a variety of content, including images, text, videos, and links. Launched in 2007 by David Karp, Tumblr is known for its visually-oriented interface and ease of use, which has attracted a diverse user base, including artists, photographers, and musicians. Users can follow each other, share content, and engage through liking and commenting on posts, creating a strong community feel. The platform gained rapid popularity due to its minimalistic design, which makes it easier for users to maintain active blogs without the commitment required by traditional blogging platforms.
Tumblr’s unique feature is its allowance for anonymity, enabling users to create pseudonymous accounts. Companies have also leveraged Tumblr for marketing, benefiting from its visual appeal to engage with younger audiences. While it does not facilitate direct purchases, Tumblr helps brands build their presence and connect with potential customers. In recent years, the platform has added features like GIF creation and instant messaging, enhancing user interaction. By 2016, Tumblr had amassed around 295 million blogs, making it a significant player in the online landscape.
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Subject Terms
Tumblr
Tumblr is a blogging outlet and social networking website owned by WordPress. The form of blogging done on Tumblr is known as "microblogging" or "tumblelogging"—terms referring to the sparse elements used in the blog, such as brief captions and video links. With Tumblr, users can upload images, text, videos, or links to their blogs. The interface is centered on a dashboard, where users can view a feed of posts from other Tumblr blogs they follow, which they can then comment on and share.
Since the website is highly visual with an emphasis on photos, companies have begun using Tumblr as a marketing tool to showcase and share their products. It allows marketers to engage with their target audience in a quick manner. Due to the stripped-down presentation of Tumblr, companies typically use the website to link to their main page or other social media outlets such as Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Corporate History
Web developer David Karp began developing Tumblr in 2006 while working at his own web development and consulting firm, Davidville. He had previously done some web development for Fred Seibert, the founder of Frederator Studios. Karp built Frederator’s first multiuser blogging platform, but he found the blogging process a tedious one. This led Karp to create a web application that made creating and sharing digital content simple. He acquired the domain name Tumblr.com and then recruited web developer Marco Arment to help him build the platform.
Seibert introduced Karp to investors Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital and Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. After the site’s official launch in February 2007, Tumblr raised $750,000 in initial funding, primarily through those two companies. Within two weeks of its launch, the site had 75,000 registered users, and by 2010, 750,000 new users were signing up every month. Tumblr raised $4.5 million in a second round of funding in December 2008, followed by an additional $5 million in a third round in April 2010.
For the first year in operation, the only employees of Tumblr were Karp and Arment. In 2008, Marc LaFountain, a public relations employee living in Richmond, Virginia, emailed Karp, offering his services as technical support for Tumblr. He was hired as their third employee. Within three years, Tumblr established a support office in Richmond, and LaFountain had a team of eighteen people working with him there. In September 2010, Arment, who had been serving as Tumblr’s acting chief technology officer and lead developer since the launch, left the company to concentrate on his web service Instapaper, which he had founded in 2008.
At first, the only monetization on Tumblr came from users who paid for premium blog layouts to enhance their visual display and features. To bring in new revenue, Karp announced in April 2012 that they would be opening up Tumblr to paid advertisements and sponsors. To help this process, Karp hired Lee Brown, a former employee of Yahoo!, as Tumblr’s head of global sales in September 2012. The first company Tumblr opened up paid advertising for was Adidas in June 2012.
On June 20, 2013, Yahoo! officially acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Karp remained chief executive officer of Tumblr, and Yahoo! stated that it did not intend to change the interface; however, many Tumblr users protested the deal. Yahoo! had fallen behind in revenue and popularity and hoped the purchase would connect them with a younger demographic.
In 2017, Yahoo! sold Tumblr to Verizon, which sold the company to WordPress owner Automattic in 2019. During the late 2010s, Tumblr's users resisted Yahoo’s attempt to add advertisements and promoted posts to increase profits. In 2016, Yahoo introduced algorithm-driven content, which was also poorly received by users. In 2018, the platform banned adult content, intending to eliminate inappropriate and exploitative content. However, the ban also impacted artistic posts, negatively impacting user engagement and leading to many users leaving the platform. After Automattic purchased the company, the platform gained some increased popularity. WordPress and creator-focused features were integrated into the platform, including Tumblr Blaze and Tip Jar. In the 2020s, Tumblr had a loyal user base that enjoyed the platform’s free-form style and adaptability. Though it did not regain its popularity in the early 2010s, it recovered from its significant decline in the mid- and late-2010s.
Overview
According to online traffic analyst company Alexa Internet, Tumblr was the forty-sixth most trafficked website in the world and the twenty-second most trafficked website in the United States in May 2016. While it is considered a blogging platform, many use it more as a social networking website; users can follow friends, share content, and "like" posts, which creates a strong networking effect.
Besides networking, Tumblr has many other applications. For example, the straightforward visual display lends itself to presenting an artist’s portfolio. For this same reason, photography and travel blogging are other popular uses for Tumblr, as well as a way for musicians to present their content.
Tumblr grew quickly during its first year in service. Many experts agree that the website’s sharp rise in popularity is due to its ease of use. A lot of people who start their own blog do not have the time to maintain it, but Tumblr’s simple interface and stripped-down format make it easier for bloggers to maintain a steady stream of updates and posts.
Another reason cited for the website’s popularity is the user’s option to remain anonymous. Whereas social media networks such as Facebook require a real name, Tumblr users are allowed to use pseudonyms. The prevalence of pornography on Tumblr is also cited as a reason for its popularity. Settings can be changed to prohibit pornographic search results.
When users sign up for Tumblr, they create a username and pick from a variety of page layouts. Those wanting more customization can pay for a premium layout. From their dashboard, users can post photos, videos, links, and text. After they publish their content, other users can like, share, or comment on the post.
On the Tumblr main page, users can see real-time updates from blogs that they follow. There are also posts suggested by Tumblr based on the user’s interests and followers. Also, companies and users can pay to have their posts featured on the main page or the suggested posts. A mobile version of Tumblr became available in 2009.
Tumblr allows companies to easily create a brand presence while interacting and engaging with consumers. While the website does not enable users to purchase products directly, it does help draw in potential customers who may repost a product they are interested in or who may be redirected to the company’s main website, thereby helping the company promote itself.
In November 2015, two significant updates were made to Tumblr. To address the problem in which a site whose users consistently post GIFs did not have a tool designed to create such GIFs, the company introduced a tool for making GIFs from video clips and image bursts on mobile devices—beginning with the iPhone. Additionally, spokespeople for the app explained that one of the biggest requests from users was to have an instant messaging capability on the site. Therefore, the company also implemented a messaging feature in an effort to allow users to talk with other users and followers—including people they do not know personally—about shared interests in real time.
In a survey conducted in January 2013, it was reported that Tumblr was receiving more daily visits from Americans under the age of twenty-five than Facebook. The following month, another survey found that Tumblr was the tenth most popular website on the Internet, with twenty billion page views per month. By May 2016, around 295 million blogs were using the Tumblr interface, according to its site. In 2018, after banning adult content, the platform lost 30 percent of its user traffic. By the mid-2020s, about 135 million individuals used Tumblr monthly.
Bibliography
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