Tumblr
 | |
| Industry | social network service, micro-blogging |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
Number of employees | 8[1] |
| Parent | Automattic  |
| Website | www.tumblr.com |
Tumblr is a blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, video, links, quotes, and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users are able to "follow" other users and see their posts together on their dashboard. Users can "like" or "reblog" posts from other blogs on the site. The service emphasizes customizability and ease of use.[2]
History
David Karp founded Tumblr in 2007 with Marco Arment as lead developer.[3][4] Right away, 75,000 existing bloggers switched to the platform, and since that time the service has garnered more than 3 million users. Some prominent users include John Legend, Katy Perry, Dianna Agron, Gary Vaynerchuk, Hannah Ramsey, Meysell Quintana, Noel Purcell, Alex Morales, Julie Rigby, Morgan Taylor Brown and Justine Bateman, hipsters and tits. Jeff Rock created a Tumblr app for the iPhone, which was acquired by Tumblr in 2009.
On March 17, 2010, the Tumblr staff blog announced that Tumblr is now accessible on BlackBerry smart phones via an app created by Mobelux. On April 17, 2010, the application was made available on BlackBerry App World.
According to a March 8, 2010 post by David Karp to the Tumblr staff blog, the site is now averaging 2,000,000 posts and 15,000 new users every day.[5]
Features
Tumblr's emphasis is on customization and ease of use, with a relatively simple sign-up process. There are many forms of content that can be added to the user's own tumblelog; the seven general categories for posts include Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video. Users "follow" other tumblelogs, much like on Twitter, and their updates appear in one stream on the Dashboard. This is the interface from which users can like and reblog posts, as well as add content to their own tumblelog. The "like" button, which lets one user tell another that they like his or her content, and the "reblog" button, which easily reposts content from one tumblelog onto another, provide positive feedback that has given Tumblr an 85% retention rate,[1] compared with 40% for Twitter.[6]
On March 15, 2010, the Tumblr staff blog announced that they were testing a feature that would allow direct video uploading. Previously, Tumblr could only host videos provided from an external host. Also, it recently added a feature that allows bloggers to add pages to their blog, allowing for more variety, organization, and flexibility with content.
Finances
Tumblr's original funding came from Karp's earnings as a software consultant at parenting site UrbanBaby. After fundraising efforts, Tumblr found $5.25 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, and Betaworks (among other investors).[7] Tumblr shares two lead investors with Twitter.
See also
References
- ^ a b Dannen, Chris. "What the Hell is Tumblr? And other Worthwhile Questions". Retrieved 2009-06-25.
- ^ Boutin, Paul. "Tumblr Makes Blogging Blissfully Easy". Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ Kushner, David. "David Karp is the Barely Legal Blogfather". Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ^ Shafrir, Doree. "Would You Take a Tumblr With This Man?". Retrieved 2009-03-23.
- ^ Karp, David (2010-03-08). "Has It Been Three Years Already?". Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ Goldsmith, Belinda (April 29, 2009). "Many Twitters are quick quitters: study". Reuters. Thompson Reuters. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
- ^ "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2009". Retrieved 2009-06-25.