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As of May 19, 2013, Tumblr hosts over 108 million blogs.<ref name="about"/> Its headquarters is on the 6th floor of 35 East 21st Street in the [[Flatiron District]] in [[New York City]]'s [[Silicon Alley]].<ref>http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-tumblr-office-nyc-2012-01?op=1</ref><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/new-yorks-tech-industry-tops-us-in-growth-study-finds.html?_r=0</ref><ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.tumblr.com/about Tumblr |accessdate=May 19, 2013|title=About Us}}</ref>
As of May 19, 2013, Tumblr hosts over 108 million blogs.<ref name="about"/> Its headquarters is on the 6th floor of 35 East 21st Street in the [[Flatiron District]] in [[New York City]]'s [[Silicon Alley]].<ref>http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-tumblr-office-nyc-2012-01?op=1</ref><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/new-yorks-tech-industry-tops-us-in-growth-study-finds.html?_r=0</ref><ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.tumblr.com/about Tumblr |accessdate=May 19, 2013|title=About Us}}</ref>


On May 20, 2013, it was announced that [[Yahoo!]] would acquire Tumblr for approximately $1.1 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2013/05/20/yahoo-tumblr-deal-announcement/2326531/ |title=Yahoo pledges 'not to screw up' Tumblr deal |last=Yu|first=Roger |date=May 20, 2013 |work= |publisher=USA Today |accessdate=May 20, 2013}}</ref>
Tumblr was acquired by [[Yahoo]] on May 21, 2013 for approximately $1.1 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2013/05/20/yahoo-tumblr-deal-announcement/2326531/ |title=Yahoo pledges 'not to screw up' Tumblr deal |last=Yu|first=Roger |date=May 20, 2013 |work= |publisher=USA Today |accessdate=May 20, 2013}}</ref> <ref> {{cite web|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/yahoo-takes-big-leap-with-1-1b-deal-for-tumblr/articleshow/20164629.cms|title=Yahoo takes big leap with $1.1B deal for Tumblr|accessdate=May 21,2013}} </ref> <ref> {{cite web|url=http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-buys-tumblr-her-boldest-150522231.html|title=Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Buys Tumblr–Her Boldest Move Yet|accessdate=May 21,2013}} </ref> <ref> {[cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/20/yahoo-acquires-tumblr-for-11-billion|title=Yahoo! Acquires Tumblr for $1.1 Billion|accessdate=May 21,2013}}</ref>


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 07:08, 21 May 2013

Tumblr, Inc.
File:Tumblr.com screenshot.png
Tumblr homepage as of 2012, when a user is not signed in. The images on the homepage will always change, with many of the most popular and/or most loved images appearing frequently.
Type of businessPrivate
FoundedFebruary 2007[1]
HeadquartersNew York City, United States[2]
Founder(s)David Karp
IndustryMicroblogging, social networking service
Employees175 (as of May 2013)[1]
ParentIndependent (2007–2013) Yahoo! (2013–)
URLtumblr.com

Tumblr, stylized in their logo as tumblr., is a microblogging platform and social networking website, owned and operated by Tumblr, Inc. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users' blogs, as well as make their blogs private.[4][5] Much of the website's features are accessed from the "dashboard" interface, where the option to post content and posts of followed blogs appear.

As of May 19, 2013, Tumblr hosts over 108 million blogs.[2] Its headquarters is on the 6th floor of 35 East 21st Street in the Flatiron District in New York City's Silicon Alley.[6][7][2]

Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo on May 21, 2013 for approximately $1.1 billion.[8] [9] [10] [11]

History

Development of Tumblr began sometime in 2006 during a two-week gap between contracts at David Karp's software consulting company, Davidville (housed at Karp's former internship with producer/incubator Fred Seibert's Frederator Studios which was located a block from Tumblr's current headquarters on 21st Street in New York).[12][13] Karp had been interested in tumblelogs (short-form blogs) for some time and was waiting for one of the established blogging platforms to introduce their own tumblelogging platform. As no one had done so after a year of waiting, Karp and developer Marco Arment began working on their own tumblelogging platform.[14][15] Tumblr was launched in February 2007[16][17] and within two weeks, the service had gained 75,000 users.[18] Arment left the company in September 2010 to focus on Instapaper.[19]

In early June 2012, Tumblr featured its first major brand advertising campaign in conjunction with Adidas. Adidas launched an official soccer Tumblr blog and bought placements on the user dashboard. This launch was only two months after Tumblr announced it would be moving towards paid advertising on its site.[20]

In May 2013, Yahoo! began talks to acquire Tumblr.[21] On May 19, the Yahoo! board approved the deal.[22] Many of Tumblr's users were unhappy with the news.[23] Some have tried to start a petition[23] which has had over 166,562 signatures. On May 20, 2013, it was announced that Yahoo! and Tumblr had reached an agreement for Yahoo! to acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash. David Karp will remain as CEO.[24][25]

Features

  • Dashboard - The dashboard is the primary tool for the typical Tumblr user. It is a live feed of recent posts from blogs that they follow. Through the dashboard, users are able to comment, reblog, and like posts from other blogs that appear on their dashboard. The dashboard allows the user to upload text posts, images, video, quotes, or links to their blog with a click of a button displayed at the top of the dashboard. Users are also able to connect their blogs to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, so whenever they make a post, it will also be sent as a tweet and a status update.[26]
  • Queue - Users are able to set up a schedule to delay posts that they make. They can spread their posts over several hours or even days.[26]
  • Tags - For each post a user creates, they are able to help their audience find posts about certain topics by adding tags. If someone were to upload a picture to their blog and wanted their viewers to find pictures, they would add the tag #picture, and their viewers could use that word to search up posts with the tag #picture.
  • HTML editing - Tumblr allows users to edit their blog's theme HTML coding to control the appearance of their blog. Users are also able to use a custom domain name for their blog.

Mobile

With Tumblr's 2009 acquisition of Tumblerette, an Apple App Store application created by Jeff Rock and Garrett Ross, the service launched its official iPhone app.[27][28] The site became available to BlackBerry smartphones on April 17, 2010 via a Mobelux application in BlackBerry World. In June 2012, Tumblr released a new version of its iOS app, Tumblr 3.0 allowing support for Spotify, hi-res images and offline access.[29] An app for Android is also available.[30] A Windows Phone app was released on April 23, 2013.[31] An app for Google Glass was released on May 16, 2013.[32]

Editorial content

In May 2012, Tumblr launched Storyboard, a blog managed by an in-house editorial team which features stories and videos about noteworthy blogs and users on Tumblr.[33] In April 2013, Storyboard was shut down.[34]

Usage

  • As of May 19, 2013, Tumblr hosts over 108.2 million blogs and more than 50.8 billion posts in total.[2]
  • In April 2013 the website received more than 13 billion global page views.[35]
  • As of May 2013, 75.8 million posts were created on the site each day.[1]

An analysis by AddThis of shares through their service in 2011 noted that Tumblr sharing had increased by 1299.5%.[36]

The service is most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblr's visitor base being under the age of 25.[37]

Finances

Funding

To date, Tumblr has received about $125 million of funding from investors.[38] The company has raised funding from Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, Martín Varsavsky, John Borthwick (Betaworks), Krum Capital, Fred Seibert, and Sequoia Capital (among other investors).[39][40]

In its first round of funding in October 2007, Tumblr raised $750,000 from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.[41] In December 2008, the company raised $4.5 million in Series B funding[42] and a further $5 million in April 2010.[43] In December 2010, Tumblr raised $30 million in Series D funding.[44] The company had a $800 million valuation in August 2011.[45] In September 2011, the company raised $85 million in a round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners.[46]

Revenue sources

In an interview with Nicole Lapin of Bloomberg West on September 7, 2012, David Karp said the site was monetized by advertising, and he argued that with the high number of users of the service, advertisers would start to look seriously spending money there. Their first advertising launch started in May 2012 after 16 experimental campaigns.[47]

Tumblr made $13 million in revenue in 2012 and hopes to make $100 million in 2013. Tumblr reportedly spent $25 million to fund operations in 2012.[38]

During the first half of 2013, Tumblr will allow companies to pay to promote their own posts to a larger audience. Tumblr Head of Sales, Lee Brown, states that the average ad purchase on Tumblr is just under six figures. Brown also states that this functionality will lead Tumblr to profitability in 2013.[48] Tumblr also generates revenue by selling themes to users to change the appearance of their blog.[49]

Criticism

Tumblr has received criticism for the ability of bloggers to violate copyright.[50] However, Tumblr does accept Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notices.[51] Tumblr's visual appeal has made it ideal for photoblogs, which oftentimes include copyrighted works from others and publishing them without payment.[52] Tumblr users are able to post content that isn't their own by "Reblogging". "Reblogging" is a feature on Tumblr which allows users to re-post content that they found on a blog which they subscribe to, onto their own blog.[50][53]

Adult content

Tumblr has also been criticized because a large portion of the platform's traffic is driven by adult content.[53] Tumblr is an ideal platform for image porn: It displays lots of photos in large formats with few words and lots of tags and referrals for viewers who want more in the same vein.[52] Some porn bloggers are also earning money by referring traffic to adult businesses through referrals and widgets.[52]

Security

Tumblr has had spam and security problems as well. In May 2011, the site experienced a chain letter scam that claimed 130,000 victims.[54]

On December 3, 2012, Tumblr was attacked by a cross-site scripting worm deployed by the Internet troll group Gay Nigger Association of America. The message encouraged users to harm themselves as well as criticizing blogging as a whole.[55]

Recognition

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Press Information". Tumblr. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d Tumblr "About Us". Retrieved May 19, 2013. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. ^ "Tumblr.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  4. ^ Boutin, Paul (March 13, 2009). "Tumblr Makes Blogging Blissfully Easy". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  5. ^ "These 19 Social Networks Are Bigger Than Google+". Business Insider.
  6. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-tumblr-office-nyc-2012-01?op=1
  7. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/new-yorks-tech-industry-tops-us-in-growth-study-finds.html?_r=0
  8. ^ Yu, Roger (May 20, 2013). "Yahoo pledges 'not to screw up' Tumblr deal". USA Today. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  9. ^ "Yahoo takes big leap with $1.1B deal for Tumblr". Retrieved May 21,2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Buys Tumblr–Her Boldest Move Yet". Retrieved May 21,2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ {[cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/20/yahoo-acquires-tumblr-for-11-billion%7Ctitle=Yahoo! Acquires Tumblr for $1.1 Billion|accessdate=May 21,2013}}
  12. ^ Karp, David; Alexandria, Julie (May 27, 2008). David Karp and Tumblr (Video). Wallstrip. Event occurs at 1:30. Retrieved February 24, 2013. Sometime in 2006, we had a couple of weeks between contracts and said 'Let's see what we can do, let's see if we can built this thing', and we threw together the first working version of Tumblr. {{cite AV media}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ ""Tumblr: David Karp's $800 Million Art Project" Forbes, January 2, 2013". Forbes.com. April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  14. ^ Davis, Sammy (August 27, 2008). "So What Do You Do, David Karp, Founder of Tumblr?". Mediabistro.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Shafrir, Doree (January 15, 2008). "Would You Take a Tumblr With This Man?". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Karp, David (December 12, 2011). David Karp: When It All Came Together (Video). Fast Company. Event occurs at 1:03. Retrieved February 24, 2013. Over the next few months, we kind of pieced together what became the first version of Tumblr which launched in February 2007.
  17. ^ Karp, David (February 19, 2007). "Tumblr — something we've always wanted". Davidville. Archived from the original on February 24, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ Ingram, Matthew (August 25, 2010). "Google VC, Tumblr CEO Among the Top Innovators Under 35". GigaOM. Giga Omni Media. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Frommer, Dan (September 21, 2010). "Tumblr CTO Steps Down To Focus On Instapaper, Independent Career". Business Insider. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  20. ^ Delo, Cotton (June 8, 2012). "Tumblr Unveils First Major Brand Campaign for Adidas". Advertising Age. Crain Communications. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Gustin, Sam (May 17, 2013). "Yahoo! Board Said to Weigh Billion-Dollar Tumblr Deal". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  22. ^ "Yahoo's Board Approves $1.1 Billion Purchase Of Tumblr". Business Insider. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  23. ^ a b Lunden, Ingrid. "Hell No, Tumblr Users Won't Go To Yahoo!". Techcrunch. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  24. ^ Mayer, Marissa (May 20, 2013). "Tumblr. + Yahoo! = !!". Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  25. ^ "Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr" (Press release). Yahoo!. May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  26. ^ a b "Tumblr Help: Posts". Tumblr.com.
  27. ^ Van Grove, Jennifer (February 25, 2009). "Tumblr Rebrands Tumblerette and Releases Free iPhone App". Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  28. ^ "Tumblerette is now the official Tumblr iPhone App! (and it's free!)". February 25, 2009. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  29. ^ Perez, Sarah (June 21, 2012). "Better, Stronger, Faster: Tumblr 3.0 For iPhone Has Arrived". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ Kerr, Dara (April 8, 2013). "Tumblr rolls out its newfangled Android app". CNET. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ Welch, Chris (April 23, 2013). "Tumblr comes to Windows Phone with lock screen, live tile enhancements". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ Tibken, Shara (May 16, 2013). "Google: Check out our new Glassware like Tumblr". CNET. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Weber, Harrison (May 7, 2012). "Tumblr's editorial hires lead to "Storyboard," a hub to feature creative users". The Next Web. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ Faircloth, Kelly (April 9, 2013). "Tumblr Kills Storyboard; Editorial Employees Will Be 'Moving On'". Betabeat. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ MacMillan, Douglas (May 19 2013). "Yahoo's board approves $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, WSJ says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-05-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ Dumenco, Simon (December 13, 2011). "AddThis: Facebook Makes Up 52% of Sharing on the Web". Advertising Age. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  37. ^ Lipsman, Andrew (August 30, 2011). "Tumblr Defies its Name as User Growth Accelerates". comScore. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ a b Edwards, Jim. "Here's Tumblr's Total Revenue For 2012 — And How It Will Make A Profit In 2013". Busiess Insider. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  39. ^ "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2009". Retrieved June 25, 2009.
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  42. ^ Kafka, Peter (December 11, 2008). "Who Said Web 2.0 Was R.I.P.? Microblog Tumblr Raises $4.5 Million, Expectations". All Things Digital publisher = Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |work= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  43. ^ Kafka, Peter (April 20, 2010). "Tumblr Raises Another $5 Million From Spark and Union Square. Now It Wants Your Money". All Things Digital. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  44. ^ Lynley, Matthew (December 17, 2010). "Tumblr brings in $30M despite stability woes". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  45. ^ Ludwig, Sean (August 26, 2011). "Tumblr on verge of raising up to $100M with massive $800M valuation". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  46. ^ Ludwig, Sean (September 26, 2011). "Tumblr grabs another $85M in fresh funding". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  47. ^ Lapin, Nicole (9-5-12). ""Tumblr Has 'Ways to Go' Before IPO, CEO Says" 9-5-12". Bloomberg West. Retrieved 13 December 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ Frier, Sarah. "Tumblr to Introduce Mobile Advertising to Help Achieve Profit". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  49. ^ "Tumblr Themes".
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