1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,080 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: tech are you? So? Back in early two thousand and seven, 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: a twenty year old guy named David Karp launched a 6 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: new microblogging social platform and called it Tumbler Tumblr. Carp 7 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,959 Speaker 1: had dropped out of high school years earlier. He had 8 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: switched to homeschooling, and then right after his studies, he 9 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: ended up moving to Japan. He worked for a website 10 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: called urban Baby. For a while, he started a consulting company. 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: He went from high school dropout to web professional to 12 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: entrepreneur in just five years. So it's two thousand and seven. 13 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: Facebook had debuted three years earlier and had emerged from 14 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: the college scene. Twitter was founded the year before Tumblr was, 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,559 Speaker 1: but it wouldn't really get thrust into the spotlight until 16 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: a month after Tumblr launched, because that was when Twitter 17 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: had the big showing at south By Southwest in March 18 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: of two thousand and seven. That's when the text spear 19 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: in general actually took notice of Twitter. So Carp was 20 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: fond of these things called tumble logs, and these are 21 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: micro blogs. They are short form log entries online. They 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: took their name from the tagline of a blog called Narcaia, 23 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: and Narkaia had the tagline experimental impressionistic sub paragraph tumblin. 24 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: So carp tumbled across a tumble log called Projectionist. Now, 25 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: this tumble log was, among other things, tracking other tumblelogs 26 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: across the web, so it was kind of serving as 27 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: a directory of tumblelogs, and Projectionist had a very nice esthetic, 28 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,679 Speaker 1: which wasn't always the case with a lot of tumblelogs 29 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: out there. The folks behind Projectionist had created like colorful 30 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: bubbles that could house a blurb, so instead of just 31 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: being text on a screen, it could really be set 32 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: apart and pop. They had also created things like frames 33 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: that would go around a video player so it would 34 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: set again set it apart from the rest of the page, 35 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: and make it look really attractive. It was much more 36 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: pleasant to look at than a lot of other not 37 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: just tumblelogs, but blogs in general, because at this point 38 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: the tools to make blogs were a little complicated for 39 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the average user. Like you could learn how to use 40 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: the different tools and make a really attractive blog, but 41 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: they weren't always user friendly, and Cart thought it would 42 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: be really cool if someone were to develop a tumble 43 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: log platform that gave users access to those kinds of 44 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: tools and made it really easy. So if the platform 45 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: would let users choose like a theme or a skin 46 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: that would automatically apply and a general esthetic to the 47 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: content that was posted to the tumblelog, that could be 48 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: really cool. So you can have like different types of 49 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: themes or skins, and that would determine how content would 50 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: appear when you posted it to the tumblelog. Then the 51 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: user would just focus on sharing the stuff they thought 52 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: was interesting or funny or thought provoking or whatever, but 53 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: they wouldn't have to worry about making it look good 54 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: because the platform would do that for you. And the 55 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: whole point was just to post very quick things like 56 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: not necessarily long thoughts, although you could do that. You 57 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: could post a live journal like long entry if you 58 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: wanted to, but really it was about, Oh, I saw 59 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: this interesting thing. I'm just going to post it here 60 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: and share it with people who visit my tumblelog. Not 61 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: At the time, Karp was running this consulting business and 62 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: he had a developer who worked with him named Marco Armint, 63 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: and between a couple of consulting gigs, when they didn't 64 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: have anything else going on, they decided they'd take a 65 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: crack at building this microblogging platform that Karp had been 66 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: thinking about for more than a year at this point. 67 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: It took them all of two weeks to build the 68 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: first version of Tumblr, and according to Karp, in no 69 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,359 Speaker 1: time at all, their brand new platform had thirty thousand 70 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: people signing up for it. It was clear that there 71 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: was a demand for these kinds of tools and that 72 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people who enjoyed tumblelogging really lacked the 73 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: know how on how to build the kind of tools themselves. 74 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: So it became a really attractive place to go and 75 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: it became the earliest version of Tumblr. Carp said that 76 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: the real appeal of Tumblr was that you could put 77 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: anything into it and you could take anything out of it. 78 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: So by that at what he meant was that a 79 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: user submitting their content to their Tumbler would see that 80 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: the platform took care of all the formatting no matter 81 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 1: what kind of content that was. If it was a video, 82 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: if it was some text, if it was an image, 83 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: Tumblr would handle the formatting, so you didn't have to 84 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: worry about it, and Tumblr would make sure that it 85 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: looked nice according to whatever esthetic you had picked. As 86 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: for taking stuff out of Tumblr, well, Tumblr had an 87 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: application programming interface or API, and it meant that you 88 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: could actually have it play nice on other sites all right, 89 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: Like you could have your own website that you operated, 90 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: and you could use a Tumblr API plugin so that 91 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,480 Speaker 1: you could pull content from your Tumbler to display on 92 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: your owned and operated site. And that way you didn't 93 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: have to give your users another link to follow if 94 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: you wanted them to be able to see your Tumblr material. 95 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: So your one site that could be the focal point 96 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: for all the stuff that you were active on online 97 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,799 Speaker 1: could include your Tumblr activity. Now, something else that contributed 98 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: to the early adoption of Tumblr, particularly among students, was 99 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: that Tumblr's ascent coincided with the rise of the smartphone. 100 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,479 Speaker 1: The popularity of the iPhone and then later on android 101 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,359 Speaker 1: phones meant that there was a new way to interact 102 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: with the Internet in general and the Web in particular, 103 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: and a new way to generate content for the Internet 104 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: and the Web. You know, smartphones had cameras. Now, y'all, 105 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: there are entire eras of my life that are largely 106 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: unphotographed because carrying a camera around was a choice. You know, 107 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: you know, you didn't. You didn't have a camera that 108 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: was incorporated into some other device that you happened to 109 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: carry with you wherever you went. If you were going 110 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: someplace and you had a camera with you, it was 111 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 1: because you decide you needed to have a camera with you. 112 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: The rise of smartphones, however, meant that cameras started to 113 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: become almost omnipresent no matter where you went, right, especially 114 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: as more and more people started to buy smartphones. So 115 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: it really changed the way we generate and consume content 116 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: on the web. Tumblr became a place that could act 117 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: as a display for all the stuff that you created 118 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: or the stuff that you liked and you wanted to reblog. 119 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: It could be a joke, it could be a video clip, 120 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: It could be a digital photo. It could be an 121 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: animated GIF or jiff if you insist on pronouncing it 122 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: that way. It could be one of any other type 123 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: of web friendly types of content and it would fit 124 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: on Tumblr. And so Tumblr became kind of a web 125 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: culture nexus. You know, there were entire memes that would 126 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: gather support and adoption on Tumblr and then spread throughout 127 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: the rest of the web. Another important element of Tumblr 128 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: was that, unlike other social platforms, users were encouraged to 129 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: adopt a pseudonym for their Tumblr account, so the account 130 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: could be a really accurate reflection of the personality of 131 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: the user. You know, it could be an accurate reflection 132 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: of what they liked and what they valued, and you 133 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: could get a really good feel for what was important 134 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: to the user and still not know who the user 135 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,119 Speaker 1: was because their account is all under a pseudonym, And 136 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: that meant the user could still maintain some anonymity, which 137 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: could be really important. It meant that users actually had 138 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: a lot more freedom to express themselves without worrying about 139 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: it perhaps impacting them in other aspects of their lives. 140 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: Right Like, let's say that you're a kid and you 141 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: realize that you're queer, but you also are in a 142 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: really sort of conservative region where you can't really have 143 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,839 Speaker 1: a safe space to talk about this with anybody else, 144 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: and so you feel very ostracized and alone and perhaps intimidated. 145 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: Tumblr was a place where you could start to explore 146 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: those aspects of your personality and to express yourself, and 147 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:21,599 Speaker 1: the pseudonym could give you some protection from consequences you 148 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: might face in your day to day life. So it 149 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,359 Speaker 1: really was an important part of a lot of people's 150 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: self discovery journey. Tumblr was a big part of that. 151 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: So besides just being a place to share in web culture, 152 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: Tumblr served a role in creating web culture. There were 153 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: entire memes and in jokes that took shape in tumblrs. 154 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: The folks on Tumblr developed their own sort of language 155 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: in references and punchlines, and they would use that as 156 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: shorthand in communication with one another. And then a newcomer 157 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: or outsider would look at Tumblr and be totally in 158 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: the dark and find it just obtuse and confusing. There 159 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: was a little bit of tribalism going on, and there 160 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,439 Speaker 1: were of course tribes within tribes, because entire tumbler communities 161 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: would begin to form around specific topics, a lot of 162 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: them being pop culture topics. You had tumblers that would 163 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: focus on fan theories about specific shows, that kind of thing. 164 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: You had whole communities that would pop up around fans 165 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: of a television show who were really hoping that two 166 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: of the characters on the show would end up in 167 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:32,959 Speaker 1: a romantic relationship. Right the so called shipping fandoms, and 168 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,319 Speaker 1: the discussions in these tumblers, or at least the blogging 169 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: in these tumblers, because you weren't leaving comments, you were 170 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: just blogging in it. They ran the full spectrum, from 171 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: wish fulfillment fantasies to even scholarly takes on how shows 172 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,680 Speaker 1: were playing to or sometimes outright exploiting the fan bases 173 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: by teasing a relationship with no intent on actually following 174 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: through with it. There are actually some really remarkable video 175 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: essays on YouTube that look into this. Arrah z has 176 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: done quite a few videos that focused on Tumblr culture 177 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: and how various properties exploited that culture. So yeah, really 178 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,559 Speaker 1: fascinating stuff. And there were other communities that coalesced around 179 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: real world concerns, some of which were seen as taboo 180 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: or socially unacceptable in order order to address them in 181 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: other types of communities, so users would lean on Tumblr 182 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,280 Speaker 1: communities as I mentioned earlier, to explore their own identities. 183 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: They could experiment, they could find understanding and acceptance among others. 184 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: So on Tumblr you could find a really robust LGBTQ 185 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 1: plus community, for example, and communities within that community. You 186 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: could also find communities that supported people who had disabilities 187 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,559 Speaker 1: or chronic illnesses. You could find the sort of communities 188 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: that just didn't have the same representation on other social 189 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: platforms or in real world spaces, particularly for people who 190 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: lived in fairly rural or remote areas, So that was 191 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: actually a really valuable thing as well. You also got 192 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: some extremes in that, and often those would be the 193 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: ones held up to ridicule or criticism that people would say, oh, 194 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: here's a tumbler that's completely dedicated to people who are 195 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: fantasizing about being robots, and then that would turn into 196 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: kind of a punchline. So there was a downside of 197 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: this as well. But I think the value that Tumblr 198 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: presented toward people who really didn't have a support system 199 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: in other areas of their lives was something that was 200 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: really special. Tumblr would actually see its major boost and 201 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: popularity in the early twenty tens, Like it definitely had 202 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: early adoption, but that was in the tens of thousands. 203 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: It would be around twenty ten where you'd start to 204 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: see millions of accounts on Tumblr. And we also saw 205 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 1: a lot of interesting subcultures form around that same time. 206 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: For example, do you remember Bronie's That's the term for 207 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: adult fans male identifying adult fans, usually of the animated 208 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: series My Little Pony. Friendship is Magic. Technically, the brony 209 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: culture actually originated on a different website, the message board 210 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: four chan, but the subculture also put down roots over 211 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: on Tumbler and flourished there. For the record, I don't 212 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: see anything wrong with adults enjoying cartoons, even cartoons that 213 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: are ostensibly meant for kids. A lot of great cartoon 214 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: creators actually intentionally into greate cross generational appeal in their works. 215 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,559 Speaker 1: It would be inaccurate for me to call myself a bronie. 216 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: I don't have anything against Bronie's. I just never got 217 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: into My Little Pony, but goodness knows, I'm a big 218 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 1: fan of other cartoons that are meant for kids, like 219 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: Phineas and ferb and Hey Season five is coming soon anyway. 220 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: Tumblr's role in Internet culture grew and its user base 221 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: also grew, and while the company's valuation continued to increase, 222 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: nearing an estimated one billion dollars by twenty ten, Kart 223 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: was determined to prevent the sorts of monetization efforts that 224 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: he was seeing elsewhere on the web, so he kept 225 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 1: Tumblr free from advertising effectively at least until twenty twelve, 226 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: and even then he was very methodical in how ads 227 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: could run on the site and the sort of brand 228 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: deals that Tumblr would do, and he eschewed the migration 229 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: toward influencer culture, which was starting to take off at 230 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: that point. That's why Tumblr allowed for pseudonyms, and it 231 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: didn't do things like track the number of folks who 232 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: were following a specific tumbler. In fact, it didn't even 233 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: allow for comments on posts. You could reblog a post, 234 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,359 Speaker 1: and you could put in your own take on your reblogging, 235 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: but you couldn't just leave comments underneath a post that 236 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: was there. He was all about removing the barriers between 237 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: creators and the stuff they wanted to post. He wanted 238 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: to take as much of that away as possible so 239 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: that it could have a more pure path from creator 240 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: to audience. But in twenty thirteen, things would change. I'll 241 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: explain more after we take this quick break. Okay, before 242 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: the break, I mentioned things would change for Tumblr in 243 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. In that year, Tumblr had seventy three million 244 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: accounts and a suitor came calling. A suitor by the 245 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: name of Yahoo. At that time, Marissa Meyer was the 246 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: CEO of Yahoo's She had been part of Google. She 247 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: was actually employee number twenty at Google, and then she 248 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: left to become CEO of Yahoo in twenty twelve. And 249 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: this was a really big move for Yahoo, this acquisition. 250 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 1: Yahoo had also been in kind of a decline leading 251 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: up to Meyer's arrival. There had been sort of a 252 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: revolving door of CEOs for a while. You know, leadership 253 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: was undergoing a lot of tumultuous change. And then Meyer 254 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: was coming in and attempting to create some stability in 255 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: the company, and Yahoo made an offer that Tumblr could 256 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: not refuse. The offer was valued at around one point 257 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: one billion dollars. Meyer promised not to screw Tumblr up. 258 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: Now you might wonder why Karp would agree to sell 259 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: Tumblr in the first place. After all, he previously had 260 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: been giving interviews to the media saying that he didn't 261 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: make Tumblr in order to make money. That money was 262 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: not the motivating factor for his involvement with Tumblr. He 263 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: wanted to build a foundation upon which people could create stuff. 264 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: That's what pushed him, he claimed. But following Yahoo's move 265 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: their offer to Tumblr, Karp would say that he had 266 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: a lot of conversations with Marissa Meyer, and he found 267 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: that Tumblr and Yahoo were in alignment on a lot 268 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: of topics, including the use of native advertising and branding 269 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: on Tumblr. And while he wasn't originally looking to sell 270 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: the company, the opportunity meant that Tumblr would have massive 271 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: corporate support while entering into the next stage of its growth, 272 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: which he said the Tumblr just couldn't do without something 273 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: like a Yahoo behind it. So Karp would actually stay 274 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: on with Tumblr. He would serve as the CEO for 275 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: the Tumblr division within Yahoo. I think it's safe to 276 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: say that Marissa Meyer and Yahoo had pounced on Tumblr 277 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: without really understanding what they were getting into. For one thing, 278 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: Tumblr was popular, you know, there were more than a 279 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: million active users in more than seventy million accounts, and sure, 280 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: venture capital companies have been making investments into Tumblr to 281 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: the point where the valuation was hovering around a billion dollars. 282 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: But Tumblr wasn't at all profitable. It really wasn't a 283 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: revenue generator. It was running these brand campaigns and stuff, 284 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: and had made some strategic partnerships with a few brands, 285 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,199 Speaker 1: but the money coming in didn't even come close to 286 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: covering the bills. It wasn't covering the operating costs of 287 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: the servers, let alone the salaries of the people who 288 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: worked there, and so turning Tumblr into a profitable business 289 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: was going to be a real challenge. See Tumblr was 290 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: also extremely permissive when it came to the types of 291 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: content that users could share. A lot of that content 292 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: was of a more mature nature. There were entire communities 293 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,439 Speaker 1: focused on sexuality, and it wouldn't take a whole lot 294 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:56,400 Speaker 1: of searching to actually find pornographic material shared on the platform. 295 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: So let's say that you run a company. It's a 296 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: brand company, and you want to advertise to folks, and 297 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 1: social platforms can be a really valuable place where you 298 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: can set your advertising. But then let's say you're worried 299 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: that your ad might appear next to a pornographic video 300 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: or pornographic gif or photo. Plus, the people to whom 301 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: you're advertising are all operating under pseudonyms, so you don't 302 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: actually know who those people are. One of the more 303 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: valuable aspects of most social networks is that the advertiser 304 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: can learn an awful lot about the customers that they're 305 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,400 Speaker 1: advertising to. Targeted advertising is really big business, but it's 306 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: harder to target users when they are quasi anonymous not impossible. 307 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: In fact, you could argue that a person's name is 308 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: one of the least important parts of who they are, 309 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,399 Speaker 1: but it still was an issue. Now, this meant that 310 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: when Yahoo tried to monetize Tumbler, they ran into some 311 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: resistance among companies that were advertisers. The sexual nature of 312 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: much of the content was on Tumblr was kind of 313 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,719 Speaker 1: a non starter for a lot of companies. Advertisers were 314 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: more interested in other platforms that had a combination of 315 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: content moderation and users having to create accounts under their 316 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: actual names and share more information about themselves, more direct information, 317 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: not just not just indicating who they were through blogging, 318 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: but outright telling the platform who they were, where they 319 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: were from, how old they were, etc. So the semi 320 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: anonymous nature of Tumblr, coupled with the proliferation of sexual 321 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: content meant that it was not an attractive place for advertisers. 322 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 1: Then we get to the debacle known as dash Con. 323 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: Originally it was called as tumble Con USA, so this 324 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: was an in person convention and it had no official 325 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: connection to Tumblr. It was catering to Tumblr communities, but 326 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,959 Speaker 1: in itself was not part of Tumblr. Organizers were all 327 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: part of various tumbler communities, and they had this ambitious 328 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: idea to create a live event where Tumblr community members 329 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: would gather in person and celebrate the stuff that they loved. 330 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: There would also be live performances, there'd be bands, there'd 331 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: be a live podcast from Welcome to night Vale, a 332 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: fantastic podcast. If you've never listened to it, you should 333 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 1: check it out. I really enjoy that one. There would 334 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: be panel discussions, there'd be meet and greets, and there 335 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:35,160 Speaker 1: would be the ballpit. So the story of dash Con 336 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: is a complicated one. It involved a lot of bad decisions, 337 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: mostly guided through a lack of experience and knowledge, as 338 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: well as a lack of capability, which again not a 339 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: slight on the people who wanted to throw this event. 340 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: I think originally the organizers really did want to throw 341 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: a great event. One of them, at least, I think, 342 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: was sincere in that desire. The entire time, they weren't 343 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: up to the task, and that's again not a slide 344 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: on them. They were tackling something they had never done before. 345 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: And it turns out that throwing live events is hard, right. 346 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: You usually have entire departments of people who are dedicated 347 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: to specific tasks within throwing a live event to get 348 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: it to get off the ground, and even then you're 349 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: going to run into issues, particularly the first couple of 350 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: years you try and have an event, so it's always difficult, 351 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 1: and it was, you know, a long shot at best 352 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: for this thing to go off. Well, the whole event 353 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: became legendary for how poorly it was launched and run. 354 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: How some of the organizers ended up begging attendees to 355 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 1: contribute cash right there at the event in an emergency 356 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,400 Speaker 1: effort to keep the event going after it had already started. 357 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of like saying, oh, no, we 358 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 1: need to lay down more railroad tracks because the train's 359 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: running out of track to run on. Numerous folks who 360 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: were meant to appear at the convention canceled because they 361 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: sensed that the event organizers were in over their heads 362 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: and would be unable to meet their obligations. The whole 363 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: thing became a big joke, and the punchline was almost 364 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,640 Speaker 1: always that darn ballpit, which, if you've not seen pictures, 365 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: was a pretty pathetic little feature. Anyway, dash Con wasn't 366 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: officially affiliated with Tumblr, so it wasn't Tumblr's fault that 367 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: dash Con was such a total disaster, but Tumblr's reputation 368 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: still took a bit of a hit just through association. 369 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: By the way, I already mentioned Sarah Z, who has 370 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: done numerous video essays on Tumblr culture. She has also 371 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: done an incredible video essay, like an exhaustive video essay 372 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: about the disaster that was Dashcan. So if you're really 373 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: curious about all the dirt and all the tea being spilt, 374 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: I recommend going to YouTube and checking out Sarah Zed's 375 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 1: It's like Sarah z Sarah Z's video essay on Dashcan. 376 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,400 Speaker 1: Back to Tumblr though, so, the user base of Tumbler 377 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: was slowly growing older because that's how time works, and 378 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: as they were aging, they were also kind of aging 379 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,199 Speaker 1: out of Tumblr for various reasons, and so some of 380 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: them were migrating over to other platforms that were introducing 381 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,199 Speaker 1: features that they found to be, you know, something that 382 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: they wanted to do, something that wanted to use moving on. 383 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,400 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that everyone left Tumblr, but a lot 384 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 1: of people did so folks began to move to other 385 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: networks like Facebook or Twitter for different reasons. Tumblr saw 386 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: a decline in user activity and Yahoo was forced to 387 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: acknowledge that they had massively overpaid for Tumblr. In early 388 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, Yahoo wrote down the value of Tumblr by 389 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,919 Speaker 1: more than two hundred million dollars. The company as a 390 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,359 Speaker 1: whole had posted a four point four billion dollar loss 391 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: in Q four of twenty fifteen. If that wasn't just Tumblr, 392 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: that was all of Yahoo, but Tumblr was part of 393 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: the problem. One could make a decent argument that Yahoo's 394 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: acquisition of Tumblr was one of the big booboos and 395 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:10,160 Speaker 1: mergers and acquisitions in the tech space. And in twenty seventeen, 396 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: Yahoo found itself the subject of an acquisition. So as 397 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 1: a reminder, Yahoo acquired Tumblr in twenty thirteen, and then 398 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, Yahoo itself became acquired by Verizon. Because 399 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: there's always a bigger fish, so Verizon acquired Yahoo and 400 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: its subsidiaries, which included Tumblr, and they bought it all 401 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 1: for the princely sum of four point five billion dollars. 402 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: That was the kitten, kaboodle everything of Yahoos. Verizon would 403 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: love Yahoo in with another acquisition and had made a 404 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: couple of years earlier, which was Aol, and together AOL 405 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: and Yahoo became oath within Verizon, which would later get 406 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: a rebranding. A few months later, carp announced he was 407 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 1: leaving the company. So he had spent a little more 408 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: than a decade as Tumblr's founder and leader, and now 409 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: he was walking away. He didn't really give a full 410 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: explanation as to why he was leaving, other than he 411 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:20,119 Speaker 1: wanted to pursue other ambitions. But I mean, Tumblr had 412 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: already had sort of a fall from grace at this point. 413 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: So in twenty eighteen, Verizon made a major change to 414 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: Tumblr's policies by cracking down on adult content. This move 415 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: had a huge impact on user activity on Tumblr. Some 416 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: analysts estimated that there was as much as a thirty 417 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: percent drop in user traffic on Tumblr in the wake 418 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: of this decision. Now users objected to censorship and restrictions, 419 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,439 Speaker 1: and part of the problem was that the filters that 420 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,959 Speaker 1: Verizon had put in place to detect and prevent adult 421 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:05,199 Speaker 1: content from posting to Tumblr were very aggressive, and users 422 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: argued that often they were flagging some content as inappropriate 423 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: when the content should not have been deemed inappropriate. This 424 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: move had a disproportionate effect on certain subcommunities, particularly the 425 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: LGBTQ plus communities on Tumblr, and again, Tumblr had served 426 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,160 Speaker 1: as kind of a safe space for people to sort 427 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: of explore their sexuality and to kind of learn who 428 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: they really were. But now they were finding that some 429 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: of this expression was no longer being tolerated on the platform. 430 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: They found themselves unable to express themselves or to engage 431 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: in the type of experimentation that had previously been facilitated 432 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: by Tumblr. However, while you could easily say well, that's 433 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: not good. I mean, you know, this was a healthy place, 434 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: or at least it could be a healthy place for 435 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,640 Speaker 1: someone to do this sort of exploration and to learn 436 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: more about themselves, there was no denying that there was 437 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: also some truly horrible stuff on Tumblr. Stuff that was 438 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: not just in bad taste. Often it was illegal. You know. 439 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: There were cases in which people found instances of child 440 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: abuse on Tumblr, like videos and photos and that sort 441 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: of thing, And there's no way of getting around that. 442 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: That is truly terrible stuff and needed to be removed. 443 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:36,359 Speaker 1: So from a business standpoint, the move to restrict adult 444 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: content was totally understandable, right Verizon needed to prove to 445 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: advertisers that Tumblr was a safe place and that posting 446 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,840 Speaker 1: ads there wasn't going to backfire on these companies they 447 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: weren't going to post an ad, and then someone takes 448 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: a screenshot of that ad appearing next to an image 449 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: with child abuse in it. That would be absolutely horrible 450 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: on every level. But that same decision to restrict adult 451 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,880 Speaker 1: content meant a ton of folks would just stop using Tumblr, 452 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: So that also meant there were fewer people to advertise. Two, Like, 453 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: the people who remained were still faithful to Tumblr, but 454 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: there weren't as many of them. The thirty percent drop 455 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: is a big drop, so this was a kind of 456 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: catch twenty two. Right, you're doing something to one tell 457 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: advertisers this is a safe space for you, but you're 458 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,719 Speaker 1: also telling them, but it means that we're losing thirty 459 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: percent of the people you wanted to advertise to in 460 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: the first place. To illustrate the decline, CNBC reported that 461 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, a single day on Tumblr would say 462 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 1: users publish eighty four million posts at minimum, So on 463 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: the slowest day in twenty fourteen, there would still be 464 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: at least eighty four million posts pushed out to Tumblr. 465 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, the number of posts was down to 466 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: thirty million, so less than half of what was being 467 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: posted in twenty fourteen, that was not the direction Tumblr 468 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: needed to go in in order to become a profitable business. Okay, 469 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: we're not done with Tumblr yet. We've still got some 470 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: more to talk about, including another shift in ownership. But 471 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:29,760 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break. So Verizon had purchased 472 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: Tumblr in twenty seventeen as part of Yahoo. Right, so 473 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: really they bought Yahoo and with it came Tumblr. But 474 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: Verizon's ownership of Tumblr did not last very long. In 475 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, Verizon sold Tumblr off to another company called Automatic. 476 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: This was a little ironic because Automatic is the company 477 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: that operates word Press, the blogging tool WordPress, and way 478 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: back when Karp was first ide eight ing on Tumblr, 479 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: when he was first thinking what would Tumblr be, WordPress 480 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: was often held up as sort of the contrast to 481 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: what he wanted because Carp saw WordPress as complicated. He 482 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: thought it wasn't very user friendly. It took a lot 483 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: of work to make stuff look good on WordPress. He 484 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: also noted that it was geared more toward long form 485 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: content generation, so not meant for microblogging. So in a way, 486 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: you could say that Karp created Tumblr to be kind 487 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: of an opposite to WordPress in some ways. And now 488 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: the company that operated WordPress would also own Tumblr, so 489 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: a little bit ironic, I guess, in at least the 490 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: Atlantis Morisset kind of way. And to twist the knife 491 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: a little bit, there's also the price that Automatic allegedly 492 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: paid for Tumblr. So the actual amount was never disclosed publicly, 493 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: but rumor mill but the sales price for Tumblr at 494 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: around three million dollars. So remember Yahoo had purchased Tumbler 495 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: way back in twenty thirteen for one point one billion, 496 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: and then six years later it sold for just three 497 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: million dollars to Automatic. Clearly, Verizon, just like Yahoo, had 498 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: trouble finding a way to operate Tumblr that was either 499 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: profitable or attractive to users, or preferably both. So would 500 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: Automatic succeed where Yahoo and Verizon had stumbled? Well, so far, 501 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: the answer to that question has been not so much. 502 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: To be fair to Automatic, the company has had to 503 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: focus primarily on fixing issues like bugs for the last 504 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: couple of years because under Verizon's ownership it wasn't really 505 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: looked after very well. Tumblr was kind of an afterthought. 506 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: So well, they've had to spend at least a couple 507 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 1: of years trying to get things to run correctly. And 508 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: then also to introduce some new features. So their goal 509 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: was really to improve the core experience for users and 510 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: then try to find ways to make Tumblr more of 511 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: a revenue generator. Interestingly, while much of the old guard 512 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: of Tumblr has since moved on to other platforms, younger 513 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: users have adopted Tumblr in increasing numbers over the years. 514 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: In a September twenty twenty two article, CNBC reporter Leah 515 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: Collins wrote that sixty percent of Tumblr's users are Generation Z. 516 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 1: These are the same users that companies like Meta and 517 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: Twitter are trying to attract and to retain. It's possible 518 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: that the things that set Tumblr apart from most other 519 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: social platforms are the features that appeal to younger users 520 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: in general. For example, on like Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, 521 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: Tumblr organizes posts chronologically, not algorithmically, so you actually see 522 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: stuff in the reverse order of when it was posted, 523 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: as opposed to you see it in the order that 524 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,240 Speaker 1: the platform has decided you need to see it. Also, again, 525 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,439 Speaker 1: it gets away from that influencer culture. Everything is under pseudonyms, 526 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,879 Speaker 1: it's not under personalities as much, and so you're kind 527 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: of away from the whole sort of I don't know, 528 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,720 Speaker 1: I don't want to call it fake, but at least 529 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: at times disingenuous environment of influencer culture. I will never 530 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: think of myself as an influencer, which I think is 531 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: on the safe side. I don't know that I'm that influential, 532 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: but I certainly don't want to be the kind of 533 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: person who's, you know, trying to orchestrate a perfect moment 534 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: for camera and assume make everyone assume that that's what 535 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,959 Speaker 1: my life is all the time and try and sell 536 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 1: stuff based off that. That's just not for me. I 537 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,040 Speaker 1: would be terrible at it if I even tried so, 538 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: but I have no desire to try, and I think 539 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: a lot of people who flocked to Tumblr are kind 540 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 1: of tired of that whole approach to social media in 541 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: the first place. But this doesn't change the fact that 542 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 1: Tumblr isn't exactly acting like a gold mine. Earlier this month, 543 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: a leaked memo from Automatic showed that the company was 544 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:24,040 Speaker 1: reorganizing and shifting some teams away from Tumblr to work 545 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: at other divisions within Automatic. Matt Mullenwegg, who is this 546 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: CEO of Automatic, later confirmed this news and said that quote, 547 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 1: we have not gotten the expected results from our effort, 548 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:39,319 Speaker 1: which was to have Tumbler's revenue and usage above its 549 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: previous peaks end quote. Mullen Weg said that his teams 550 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: had put in more than six hundred person years of 551 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,799 Speaker 1: effort into Tumblr since purchasing the company, and I guess 552 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: there just has to come a time where you say 553 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: the return on investment just isn't there and you have 554 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: to scale back or else you're going to just lose 555 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: tons of money. Now, to be clear, Tumblr isn't necessarily 556 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 1: on the chopping block. It's not like it's going to 557 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: get sold off for parts necessarily. I mean, maybe it will, 558 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 1: but that doesn't appear to be the current plan. Mullen 559 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: Wegg says that the plan is for his team to 560 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: really focus on improving the core functionality of Tumblr in 561 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,279 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, and that one function that might get 562 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: an overhaul or maybe will get phased out completely is 563 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: a live streaming video feature that Automatic introduced into Tumblr 564 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: last year called Tumblr Live. Apparently, the site has not 565 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,359 Speaker 1: seen widespread adoption the app or Tumblr has not seen 566 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: a lot of adoption of Tumblr Live, and it just 567 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: hasn't taken off the way that Automatic had hoped. Mullen 568 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 1: Wegg indicated that the company would try their darness to 569 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,359 Speaker 1: get folks to use live before the end of the year, 570 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: that that is part of their contractual obligation. But if 571 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: that doesn't happen, then in January they're going to re 572 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,719 Speaker 1: assess the feature and make a decision as to whether 573 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: or not it even belongs in Tumblr at all. And 574 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:10,720 Speaker 1: it sounds to me like Tumblr Live is on borrowed time. 575 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: There are other features that Automatic introduced since their acquisition 576 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, and they've also seen some pretty poor 577 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,960 Speaker 1: adoption or in some cases outright opposition from users. So 578 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,839 Speaker 1: mullen Wegg is indicated the next year, Tumblr is likely 579 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,839 Speaker 1: going to scale down a bit, shed some of these 580 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: features and maybe roll back other ones, and really focus 581 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,800 Speaker 1: just on creating the core elements of what makes Tumblr 582 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: work and to make those better. The smaller team will 583 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:43,600 Speaker 1: also reduce the cost of operating Tumblr in the first place, 584 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:47,359 Speaker 1: which is important because mullen Wegg indicated the site has 585 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:50,400 Speaker 1: yet to make more money than it costs to run. 586 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,680 Speaker 1: So I think each owner of Tumblr, maybe not to 587 00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: the extent of Verizon Verizon was buying all of Yahoo, 588 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: but Yah and Automatic. I think both of these companies 589 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,520 Speaker 1: thought they saw in Tumblr a way to turn things 590 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: around and to monetize things in a way that would 591 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: make both users and advertisers happy. But no one has 592 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,480 Speaker 1: quite landed on the working formula yet. Doesn't mean that 593 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: it is impossible or that they won't figure it out. 594 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:26,319 Speaker 1: But that's been mostly Tumblr's history since it's acquisitioned by 595 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 1: Yahoo back in twenty thirteen. An interesting story. Tumblr's an 596 00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:35,320 Speaker 1: interesting platform, one that I never really got that much into. 597 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,720 Speaker 1: I think I was too old by the time Tumblr 598 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: had come out to really vibe with the culture of Tumblr. 599 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: I'm an old fogie and younger communities, with their own 600 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:55,279 Speaker 1: languages and their own values and philosophies, are often at 601 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,279 Speaker 1: a disconnect with my own, Which is not saying that 602 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:02,080 Speaker 1: those communities are bad or that I'm bad, just that 603 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: we don't line up because I'm old. I still don't 604 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:12,320 Speaker 1: really understand what no cap means. Someone tell me before 605 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,879 Speaker 1: I go sit in the rocking chair for the rest 606 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:18,400 Speaker 1: of the day. But anyway, that is the rundown on 607 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 1: Tumblr so far. I hope that they do see a renaissance. 608 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, younger communities find value in Tumblr, and 609 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 1: I think there is value in it being in operation, 610 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,319 Speaker 1: there just has to be a way to cover the 611 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,840 Speaker 1: costs of that operation or else Ultimately it will go away. 612 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,239 Speaker 1: No one's going to run it out of just a 613 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 1: charitable desire to give young people a place where they 614 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 1: can find themselves. That just isn't how the world works unfortunately. Anyway, 615 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,799 Speaker 1: that's all for today. I hope you're all well, and 616 00:39:54,880 --> 00:40:04,719 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 617 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:09,319 Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 618 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 619 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:13,760 Speaker 1: favorite shows.