Tumblr Bought By WordPress. What Comes Next?

    0
    1049

    Automattic, a web development corporation, recently bought Tumblr. They’re well renowned as the owners of the blogging website WordPress.com.

    The microblogging website started in 2007. On August 12, 2019, Verizon announced its sale to Automattic. They did not reveal the price of the deal however, Axios confirmed that it is approximately under $3 Million. The acquisition was compared to the infamous purchase of Tumblr by Yahoo in 2013. In 2016, Yahoo claimed that the 1.1 billion dollars with which they bought Tumblr were wasted money. In six years, Tumblr’s value fell drastically. 

    End of last year, Verizon announced a ban on the content policy. Tumblr banned NSFW(not safe for work) content featuring nudity and porn. Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg stated that there will be no change in the content policy. The new owners intend to make the social networking site a complimentary service to WordPress.

    What Went Wrong?

    Unfortunately, a couple of things did. Yahoo and Verizon both tried to make Tumblr a mainstream social networking site and in doing so, they ignored the target audience. Other than that, there was Apple’s ban on adult content. The ban was mainly a zero-tolerance policy towards media featuring child sexual exploitation and abuse. According to research reported on by Vice in 2016, while less than 1% of Tumblr’s then-130 million users posted pornography, approximately 22% of the users viewed it while 28% of the users were “unintentionally exposed” to pornography. Many artists complained that they were unable to upload their art after the ban. Even though the team tried, they couldn’t fool the algorithm.

    Source: https://kanguro.fi/blog/who-uses-tumblr-17-statistics-marketers-need-to-know-about-tumblr/
    Source

    What comes next for Tumblr?

    Its users are desperately hoping to get rid of the content ban. Considering what Automattic said, perhaps disappointment? Honestly, we don’t know. No one does. We can only hope that their net worth doesn’t go further down. In its prime, it made quite the sensation. Let’s hope its users stay satisfied.

    Interested in more? Click here for exciting updates!

    Leave a Reply