Latest / Mini Scroll / How Tumblr Tumbled: The Rise, Fall & Resurgence of Gen Z’s Favourite Platform

Transcript

How Tumblr Tumbled: The Rise, Fall & Resurgence of Gen Z’s Favourite Platform · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  On May 22nd. 2023 Marissa Mayer, the chief executive at Yahoo,
• 0:05
  held a press conference. Mayer was here to announce
• 0:08
  Yahoo's biggest acquisition in over a decade.
• 0:11
  Getting to know the Tumblr team and the company, and thinking
• 0:14
  about all the possibilities and opportunities we have to work
• 0:16
  together has been something that's been really, really
• 0:18
  exciting. And I can't wait to see how how
• 0:21
  this all goes. The Internet giant had just
• 0:23
  purchased Tumblr, a wildly popular youth microblogging
• 0:27
  site. For 1.1.
• 0:29
  Billion Dollars. At the time, Tumblr was just
• 0:32
  over 5 years old and had already reached over 50 million daily
• 0:37
  active users. The acquisition of such a
• 0:39
  beloved platform by a big corporation was controversial.
• 0:43
  Many Tumblr users were not happy with the sale.
• 0:46
  Some expressed concern about the changes this would bring to
• 0:49
  their favorite site. Others said their Tumblr profile
• 0:52
  was an extension of their identity and they.
• 0:54
  Didn't want to identify. With Yahoo, Die Hard users even
• 0:58
  created a petition against Yahoo's acquisition.
• 1:00
  Which racked up. Nearly 170,000 signatures.
• 1:03
  While these efforts didn't stop the sale, Mayer made a public
• 1:07
  promise in this press conference to ease users concerns.
• 1:11
  We promised this morning we are not going to screw this up.
• 1:14
  This was a promise that she unfortunately could not keep.
• 1:18
  From Centennial World, I'm Lauren Meissner and.
• 1:21
  This is infinite scroll. A podcast.
• 1:23
  About Internet culture, the creator economy, and how social
• 1:26
  media is shaping Gen. Zed, welcome back to Infinite
• 1:30
  Scroll, everyone. All right, we have done some.
• 1:32
  Rejigging of the office. I know that you guys are hating
• 1:37
  the blue. Wall and I'm hating it too
• 1:38
  because it. Really messes with the lighting.
• 1:40
  So this is like right by our desks in the office where I'm
• 1:44
  filming right now. I just like moved all the stuff
• 1:46
  really quickly. But I think it's actually.
• 1:48
  A better setup so I might completely move the office and
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  like just switch it over this. Weekend anyways for anyone
• 1:54
  that's. New here, I just got like a
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  dedicated office space. For my team, but it's.
• 2:00
  Also doubling as a podcast studio so I don't have to.
• 2:03
  Record these in my house anymore.
• 2:05
  My husband can have his office back, so it's just.
• 2:08
  Been a journey to. Figure it all out, but I feel
• 2:11
  like we're almost there. So this episode is the.
• 2:15
  Next installment in our intranet.
• 2:17
  Industry series. So last month we did the rise
• 2:20
  and fall of Myspace. And today I am.
• 2:22
  Bringing you the rise and. Fall and.
• 2:24
  Possible resurgence of Tumblr, but.
• 2:27
  Before we get into. It as always.
• 2:28
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  culture and creator drama and. Tea and you can chat.
• 2:57
  With me so I. Wanted to read 2 Cute.
• 3:00
  Little reviews that I got this week.
• 3:03
  So Sabrina says. I've never been a podcast girly,
• 3:06
  but I have listened to every EP of infinite scroll and mini
• 3:08
  scroll the past few months. I love that your analysis of pop
• 3:11
  culture are so grounded. Pop culture isn't.
• 3:14
  Popular without the people and I really appreciate that you call
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  attention to the disconnect between celebrities, influencers
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  and the challenges of everyday people from cost of living to
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  genocide. Thank you Sabrina.
• 3:23
  That is the mission of the Centennial World brand in
• 3:27
  general. And this podcast, of course, is
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  to talk about these topics that are fun and frivolous and
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  entertaining, but to bring. Gravity to them, right?
• 3:34
  There is still so much. Value in analyzing pop culture
• 3:38
  from a critical lens. But there's also value.
• 3:41
  In, you know, just. Loving the gossip and the tea.
• 3:44
  OK, and Alana said. I love y'all's videos.
• 3:47
  I'm so glad y'all talking about this as a college student.
• 3:50
  Your videos have helped me so much.
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  That is like the best compliment ever.
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  Thank you so much. Literally the fact that our
• 3:59
  videos, our podcasts could be helping you in college.
• 4:03
  The Best Tumblr was officially founded in 2000 and. 7 by 21
• 4:13
  year. Old software consultant David
• 4:15
  Karp. At the time, David was
• 4:16
  interested in Tumble. Logs a form of microblogging.
• 4:19
  That was becoming more popular. A marker of tumble logs was
• 4:22
  that. Posts were unstructured, usually
• 4:24
  did not have a headline and were posted in a scrollable feed
• 4:28
  style. Jason Kotke, an award-winning
• 4:30
  Blogger of the 2000s, described tumble logs in 2005.
• 4:35
  Quote a tumble log is a quick. And dirty stream of
• 4:37
  consciousness. They remind me of an.
• 4:39
  Older style of blogging back when people did sites by hand
• 4:43
  before Movable Type made post titles all but mandatory.
• 4:46
  Blog. Entries turned into short
• 4:47
  magazine articles and posts belong to a conversation
• 4:50
  distributed throughout the entire blogosphere with minimal
• 4:53
  commentary like cross blog chatter, the barest whiff of a
• 4:57
  finished published. Work almost peer editing.
• 5:00
  Just a way to quickly publish the stuff that you run across
• 5:02
  every day on the web. Almost our entire.
• 5:05
  Your social media landscape in 2024 is based.
• 5:08
  On the concept of tumble. Logs, So it's hard to imagine
• 5:12
  that this wasn't the norm back then.
• 5:14
  Modern examples of tumble logs include tweets, Facebook
• 5:17
  statuses, and YouTube community posts.
• 5:20
  And Instagram and TikTok. Posts are examples of visual
• 5:22
  tumble logs, David. Who taught himself to code?
• 5:25
  At age 11, was waiting for one of the bigger blogging sites to
• 5:28
  introduce a tumble log feature or a dedicated platform.
• 5:31
  But after a year of waiting, he decided to create his own.
• 5:35
  He later said he wanted to create.
• 5:36
  A platform that was easier to use than the other blogging
• 5:39
  platforms like WordPress or Blogger.
• 5:41
  But didn't require you to friend.
• 5:43
  Someone to see their posts like social media sites, Myspace and
• 5:46
  Facebook. David and Software.
• 5:48
  Developer Marco Arment began. Working on the.
• 5:50
  Concept in 2006 during a two week break in David's consulting
• 5:54
  contracts. They called it Tumblr after
• 5:57
  Tumble Log. Tumblr launched in February 2007
• 6:00
  and within two weeks it had 75,000 users.
• 6:04
  Tumblr's initial success. In those first couple of weeks
• 6:07
  proved to David that this was a good idea.
• 6:09
  Excited and ready to grow the company, David quickly raised
• 6:12
  $75,000 at a $3,000,000 valuation from Spark Capital.
• 6:17
  With that cash injection, Tumblr took off by July 2. 1009 Tumblr
• 6:21
  hit 50 million visitors and had 250.
• 6:26
  Million monthly page views 2. Years later, in May 2011, Tumblr
• 6:32
  reached 250 million. Page views per single day.
• 6:36
  By this time, the company had raised $125 million was.
• 6:39
  Hosting over 42,000,000. Blogs and over. 70% of the
• 6:43
  site's users were under the age of 35, but.
• 6:46
  What made Tumblr so successful and how had the site?
• 6:49
  Managed to almost exclusively attract the most valuable user
• 6:53
  base. Online Millennials and Gen.
• 6:56
  Z, Though Tumblr Was built to be a.
• 6:58
  Simple microblogging site. The platform's.
• 7:00
  Multimedia approach set it apart.
• 7:02
  While users initially used Tumblr like a mood board similar
• 7:06
  to. Today's Pinterest The site.
• 7:08
  Allowed users to mix. Written posts with lyrics
• 7:10
  quotes. Screenshots and other images.
• 7:13
  They liked. It was like a Moody teenagers
• 7:15
  online dream. The ability to express yourself
• 7:18
  via basically all forms of. Media at once on Tumblr fostered
• 7:21
  a certain. Vibe on the platform, which
• 7:24
  attracted a more progressive. Audience.
• 7:26
  As a result, Tumblr developed a bit of a reputation as a
• 7:30
  platform for rebellion, which only.
• 7:32
  Further attracted young users. This self-expression was
• 7:35
  further. Encouraged by the platform.
• 7:37
  Through its customization tools. Like Myspace, users could
• 7:40
  customize their profiles using basic HTML.
• 7:43
  Coding but. Unlike Myspace, which had
• 7:46
  become. Overrun with.
• 7:47
  Ads by the late 2. Thousands and was.
• 7:49
  Already hemorrhaging users because of it?
• 7:51
  Listen to our episode The Rise and Fall of Myspace for a full.
• 7:54
  Explanation on how that happened.
• 7:56
  Tumblr remained ad free until 2012, giving the platform 5
• 8:01
  full. Years to build its user base.
• 8:03
  Until it went commercial. Because of this, Tumblr became.
• 8:06
  The go to place for Gen. Z to create customizable
• 8:10
  profiles as they were too young to experience the heydays.
• 8:13
  Of Friendster and Myspace. Tumblr's focus on the user
• 8:16
  experience. Over profitability fostered a
• 8:18
  culture that was. Completely unique to the.
• 8:20
  Platform as XO Insights explains quote the focus.
• 8:24
  On user experience led to. Functionalities such as
• 8:27
  dashboard, live. Feed queuing, tagging and even
• 8:30
  allowing HTML editing of. Blog themes were significant
• 8:33
  differentiators. Later, Tumblr introduced
• 8:35
  integrated instant messaging, which was intentionally rolled
• 8:39
  out in a gamified viral manner. All such features and
• 8:42
  functionalities fostered bottom up.
• 8:44
  Communities. Attracted new users, drove user
• 8:47
  retention, and even kicked off several.
• 8:49
  Movements Tumblr was also. One of the first platforms that
• 8:53
  incorporated. Gifts in its posts.
• 8:55
  Again, it's hard to imagine. Platforms without a live feed or
• 8:59
  the innate ability to tag other. Users and content.
• 9:03
  These are functionalities that have been built into.
• 9:05
  Almost every single platform sense.
• 9:07
  Giving us an idea of how impactful Tumblr has been to the
• 9:11
  online culture of today, another element that made Tumblr.
• 9:14
  Successful was its focus. On anonymity, though, we saw how
• 9:18
  anonymity expedited the downfall of Myspace.
• 9:21
  Being able to post freely under an alias anonymously was a
• 9:24
  massive. Draw for Tumblr users.
• 9:27
  This is because as previously. Mentioned Tumblr was not really
• 9:31
  a social media site. Myspace Anonymous profiles could
• 9:34
  friend anyone of any. Age as you can.
• 9:37
  Imagine this led to increased problems as the site grew.
• 9:41
  The culture on Tumblr, on the other hand, was not so much
• 9:44
  about connecting with. People.
• 9:45
  Although there was an element of that of.
• 9:47
  Course, but rather. It was more about.
• 9:49
  Expressing yourself. And doing that anonymously was
• 9:53
  very freeing and important to a lot of young.
• 9:56
  Users as Jake Peter wrote for Archer quote.
• 9:59
  As a platform, Tumblr prioritizes anonymous personal
• 10:02
  expression and allows for a certain amount of freedom when
• 10:05
  compared with other social networks, including an allowance
• 10:08
  for nudity and pornography. In short, you can be.
• 10:10
  Whatever version of yourself that you'd like to be.
• 10:13
  This X-rated content, as Peter notes, started getting popular
• 10:17
  on Tumblr around 2013, one year after Tumblr started offering
• 10:21
  paid advertising to brands on the platform.
• 10:24
  While it was initially very. Helpful for those who struggled
• 10:26
  with their sexuality or who. Sought more inclusive depictions
• 10:29
  of sex This not safe for work. Content started to spook
• 10:33
  advertisers. In its heyday, Tumblr had a
• 10:36
  massive impact on young millennials and older Gen.
• 10:39
  Z throughout the early. To late 2000 tens while there
• 10:43
  were a few notable Tumblr influencers, the platform was
• 10:46
  renowned for its community building features and iconic
• 10:49
  aesthetics, much of which continue to shape Internet
• 10:52
  culture and social media platforms today.
• 10:55
  That being said, the format of Tumblr was extremely different
• 10:58
  from that of the. Current popular platforms
• 11:01
  instead of. Posting your own user generated
• 11:03
  content. It was about curating pictures
• 11:05
  and posts to suit your. Aesthetic, therefore the type.
• 11:08
  Of influencers to come out of this platform were different.
• 11:11
  From what we see today. Some became famous for their
• 11:14
  blogs themselves, while others became.
• 11:16
  Famous. After a picture of them went
• 11:18
  viral, gaining hundreds of thousands or even millions.
• 11:21
  Of notes, there are a few. Iconic influencers and
• 11:25
  celebrities that first gained notoriety on Tumblr.
• 11:28
  One of them was Acacia Brinley. Acacia started posting on Tumblr
• 11:32
  under her first URL, Let's Snuggle, when she was around 13
• 11:36
  years old. For Acacia, Tumblr was a place
• 11:38
  to find a sense of belonging. In a 2016 interview with
• 11:41
  Daymond, John Acacia explains that she joined Tumblr after
• 11:44
  she. Was being bullied at school.
• 11:46
  And didn't have any friends. The main reason because of that
• 11:48
  was because I lived in Orange County at the time.
• 11:52
  All these girls were Uggs, Abercrombie, Juicy Couture.
• 11:55
  And then there's me with my fake Uggs from Forever 21 or my jeans
• 12:01
  from Old Navy because they were on sale that day.
• 12:03
  She didn't intend to go viral or start an influencing career, but
• 12:07
  she soon started posting pictures of herself, which
• 12:09
  eventually gains traction on the platform.
• 12:11
  Even if you're not completely familiar with Acacia, chances
• 12:15
  are you've come across her selfies at one point or another.
• 12:18
  Some of her most iconic pictures were taken from a high angle,
• 12:21
  showing off her side swept bangs with Acacia, sticking her tongue
• 12:25
  out or sporting cutesy little smile.
• 12:27
  I took pictures of myself almost like every single day.
• 12:30
  Kind of embarrassing to talk about.
• 12:32
  But and then I would post them on to Tumblr and one day, like,
• 12:37
  it just got reblogged by someone with followers.
• 12:40
  And then a bunch of other people with followers started with
• 12:42
  blogging. It with her edgy aesthetic and.
• 12:44
  Conventional beauty Acacia came to embody the Tumblr era where
• 12:47
  many young girls. Tried to emulate her overall
• 12:50
  vibe, however, after she started.
• 12:52
  Dating other popular Tumblr bloggers and social media
• 12:55
  influencers, Acacia found herself at the center of
• 12:57
  controversy. This is when she.
• 12:59
  Started to receive an excessive. Amount of criticism and hate
• 13:03
  After dating a couple of different people as many young
• 13:06
  girls do, user started calling her fame hungry.
• 13:08
  Clout, chaser and a slut. This worsened as.
• 13:11
  She started posting increasingly provocative.
• 13:13
  Pictures and her nudes. Got leaked over the years she
• 13:17
  was associated with five. Seconds of Summer and even dated
• 13:20
  Sam Portof, a member of the former.
• 13:22
  YouTube group Our Second Life or O2L.
• 13:25
  Many of the men she dated were significantly older than her,
• 13:28
  while much of this Kate may have stemmed from.
• 13:29
  Jealousy. It was extremely.
• 13:31
  Damaging to Acacia's career and her mental.
• 13:33
  Health Aside from her relationships, Acacia was also
• 13:36
  accused of faking self harm for. Attention on the Internet.
• 13:40
  A controversy that she. Has since discussed on TikTok,
• 13:43
  saying it was extremely upsetting and isolating for her
• 13:45
  at the time. Since her Tumblr days, Acacia
• 13:48
  has moved to other platforms, now posting predominantly on
• 13:51
  YouTube and Instagram. She continues to face hate, but
• 13:54
  now viewers mostly expressed concern for her children,
• 13:57
  accusing her of child abuse and neglect while.
• 14:00
  Acacia was. The Tumblr It Girl.
• 14:02
  A number of other celebrities found their start on Tumblr.
• 14:05
  Most notably Alexis. Wren and Barbie Ferrera, both
• 14:09
  women, gained traction on Tumblr for their appearance.
• 14:11
  Alexis was first scouted when she was 13 while walking around
• 14:14
  in a Los Angeles mall. However, she only became
• 14:17
  Internet famous at 15 after pictures of her posing by a pool
• 14:20
  in a black bikini blew up on Tumblr.
• 14:23
  Since then, Alexis has amassed over 17,000,000 Instagram
• 14:26
  followers, starred in various music videos and placed fourth
• 14:30
  on Season 27 of Dancing With The.
• 14:32
  Stars actress Barbie Ferrera. Had a similar.
• 14:34
  Trajectory by two. 1013 Barbie had grown a substantial Tumblr
• 14:39
  following and much like. Acacia.
• 14:40
  She embraced a soft, grand aesthetic.
• 14:43
  Posting under the moniker Barbie Knox in a conversation with
• 14:46
  Dazed from 2021. Barbie explained.
• 14:49
  Quote her Tumblr. Was called Pale.
• 14:51
  Grunge blog. So that was very much the
• 14:53
  aesthetic. I would take.
• 14:54
  Photos on Photo Booth, and it was very grunge.
• 14:56
  Ultimately, Tumblr helped her launch a modeling career where
• 14:59
  she received a message on the platform about an American.
• 15:02
  Apparel open casting call. She told W magazine in 2016.
• 15:07
  Quote I took a not very good. Quality selfie I was sick.
• 15:10
  And sent it to American. Apparel, I heard back.
• 15:13
  From them the next day. It was the weirdest experience
• 15:16
  of my life. While Barbie was a Tumblr, it
• 15:18
  girl. When she scored her.
• 15:19
  Role as Kat Hernandez in Euphoria, some of these old
• 15:22
  Tumblr posts resurfaced. Upon reflection, many social
• 15:26
  media users claimed that some of her.
• 15:28
  Posts were racist. According to these.
• 15:30
  Accounts, Barbie allegedly claimed that she was a.
• 15:32
  Biracial, black woman and was able to say the N word even
• 15:36
  though that isn't the case. While there are screenshots
• 15:38
  floating around on X, these posts cannot be.
• 15:41
  Verified as her blog has been. Deactivated and essentially been
• 15:44
  wiped from the Internet. Of course, this type of social
• 15:47
  media stardom is not exclusive to Tumblr.
• 15:49
  We have seen regular users gain notoriety on certain platforms
• 15:53
  before pursuing a career in mainstream entertainment.
• 15:56
  But what was interesting about Tumblr was the way.
• 15:58
  People would go viral while. Remaining largely anonymous?
• 16:03
  Take. Pizza.
• 16:04
  For instance, pizza was one of the most.
• 16:06
  Popular blogs on Tumblr. So much.
• 16:09
  So that the blog's. Presence became an inside joke
• 16:11
  on the app. Basically the blog pizza would
• 16:14
  reblog every text. Post on the app that mentioned
• 16:17
  pizza. Aside from this, Pizza was one
• 16:20
  of the platform's most prolific comedy blogs.
• 16:22
  The accounts owner, a Melbourne local named Jess Miller, was
• 16:25
  mostly anonymous to her followers for the majority of
• 16:28
  her Tumblr fame. While her other social media
• 16:30
  platforms were accessible through her blog, she did not
• 16:33
  attempt to convert her Tumblr following to other platforms.
• 16:37
  Jess started her blog in 2011. Where she largely reblogged
• 16:41
  aesthetic summer photos, she grew.
• 16:43
  Her following through Tumblr follow trains where users would
• 16:46
  get their name added to a. Blog post which was later
• 16:49
  reblogged by others. As a means to.
• 16:51
  Get more followers. By the end of 2012, Jess had
• 16:54
  amassed over 90,000 followers. And soon made the switch to a
• 16:57
  humor blog. A year and a half.
• 16:59
  Later, her blog had. Accumulated 1,000,000 followers
• 17:02
  and started monetizing her account.
• 17:04
  At its height, Jess. Was making between 2:00 to
• 17:07
  $10,000. A week while her blog was
• 17:11
  largely. Harmless Jess did end up in
• 17:13
  controversy at the beginning of 2014.
• 17:15
  Users had sleuthed through. Her archive and found that she
• 17:18
  had used the N word in some of. Her old posts, she was also
• 17:22
  criticized after. Advertising and promoting a
• 17:24
  diet. Pill that was known to be a.
• 17:26
  Scam ultimately leading Tumblr to delete her account on August
• 17:30
  19th of that same year. Now that we have.
• 17:32
  Discussed the scope of. Tumblr Stardom.
• 17:34
  It is clear that the platform had its own class of
• 17:38
  influencers. But with this specific type of.
• 17:40
  Fame came a very unique sense of community.
• 17:43
  That was exclusive to the. Platform Tumblr ended up
• 17:46
  becoming a hub for anything and everything fandom related,
• 17:50
  helping many young people find a sense of belonging and community
• 17:53
  on the platform. But fandom was different on
• 17:55
  Tumblr compared to other social networks, according to a Tumblr
• 17:59
  book platform and cultures quote while media fan communities
• 18:03
  have. Always populated a range of.
• 18:04
  Platforms. Tumblr quickly became the
• 18:06
  primary. Platform for many fans as.
• 18:08
  Soon as it was introduced, especially for new young fans in
• 18:12
  particular, Tumblr drew in. Fans who were invested.
• 18:15
  In creating and sharing performative.
• 18:17
  Works such as. Fan art, fan fiction, Fan video
• 18:20
  gift sets and. Playlists those that.
• 18:22
  Re envisioned the source text in ways that contrasted.
• 18:25
  With or exceeded. The normative fan behavior years
• 18:28
  encouraged by industry interests from Harry Potter to One
• 18:32
  Direction, there were thousands of blogs catering to different
• 18:35
  fandoms. There was.
• 18:36
  Even the fuck yeah. Variant, which were blogs that
• 18:39
  had fuck. Yeah, in the.
• 18:40
  URL and then continued with whatever niche.
• 18:43
  Subculture or Topic A. User was looking for some
• 18:47
  examples include Fuck Yeah movie posters.
• 18:49
  Fuck yeah. Pizza and fuck yeah.
• 18:51
  Doctor Who? According to a Washington Post
• 18:54
  article from 2015, there were around, quote, 170,000 blogs.
• 18:59
  Fuck Yang about something on Tumblr at the time of
• 19:01
  publication. Quote It's a clever.
• 19:03
  And effective way to create. A kind of digital shrine to
• 19:06
  something you're super pumped about, whether it be an animal
• 19:09
  or an era or the shipping of Harry Styles and Louis
• 19:12
  Tomlinson. The beauty lies in the
• 19:14
  simplicity, Tumblr story board executive Jessica Bennett tells
• 19:18
  Weipo. While the Fuck Yeah blog.
• 19:20
  Was just one aspect of Tumblr fandom.
• 19:22
  There were other subcultures on this side of the platform.
• 19:25
  Tumblr became the home for fan fiction and imagines about
• 19:28
  different celebrities and content.
• 19:30
  We are all familiar with long form fan fiction at this point,
• 19:33
  but for those who are unfamiliar with Imagines, they're basically
• 19:36
  short self insert fan fictions. The genre gained lasting
• 19:41
  popularity thanks to bad 1D, Imagines A blog.
• 19:45
  That brought together the cheesiest.
• 19:47
  And cringiest, One Direction imagines, with fandom, allowing
• 19:51
  users to insert themselves or reimagine their favorite.
• 19:54
  TV shows and movies. Tumblr became.
• 19:56
  A safe space for. Racial and ethnic minorities
• 19:58
  alongside the LGBTQIA community. Given that Tumblr was a fairly
• 20:03
  anonymous platform, it became a powerful tool for teens
• 20:06
  exploring their gender and sexual identity, particularly
• 20:09
  when they had limited opportunity.
• 20:10
  Communities in the real world, while anonymity in the digital
• 20:13
  space, can be dangerous. It also provided a safe space
• 20:17
  for. These young people and their
• 20:18
  peers to help mitigate feelings of loneliness and social
• 20:21
  isolation in 2021, well after Tumblr.
• 20:24
  'S peak queer users. Continue to congregate on the
• 20:27
  platform where Tumblr even declared.
• 20:28
  Itself quote the. Queerest place on the Internet,
• 20:31
  as BuzzFeed News reports. Quote the people.
• 20:33
  Who use its site? Are 193% more.
• 20:36
  Likely to be LGBTQ. Compared to those on other
• 20:39
  platforms, it estimates that one in.
• 20:42
  Four of its users identify as LGBTQ.
• 20:45
  Research by academics Brady Robards, Paul Byron, Brendan
• 20:49
  Churchill, Benjamin Hacknell and son Vivian found that LGBTQIA
• 20:54
  youth identified with Tumblr for a multitude of reasons.
• 20:57
  The obvious reason was finding a community of like minded people.
• 21:00
  However, Tumblr was also a. Source of queer pedagogy.
• 21:04
  In other words, it helps many young people understand why they
• 21:07
  feel like they might not fit in to a heteronormative, CIS or
• 21:11
  binary gendered world. That being said, though, Tumblr
• 21:14
  has long been considered a. Safe space for this demographic.
• 21:17
  There have been instances. Where the LGBTQIA community?
• 21:20
  Have felt sidelined from the platform, most notably when
• 21:24
  Tumblr announced that it would no longer allow adult content
• 21:27
  again. More on this later According to
• 21:30
  academic reports, trans people were disproportionately harmed
• 21:33
  with this change. Quote Trans people used Tumblr
• 21:36
  to post content related to their transitions, much of which
• 21:39
  tumblers algorithms classified. As adult.
• 21:43
  Yet adult content is often educational or medical and
• 21:45
  gender transition contexts, and enables trans people to gather
• 21:49
  information and explore identities during transition.
• 21:52
  Tumblr's ban sent a clear signal to trans communities that they
• 21:56
  were no longer welcome, where Tumblr helped many young people
• 21:59
  find a sense of belonging and community.
• 22:01
  There was a darker. Side to the platform, one that
• 22:04
  glamorized mental illness and self harm.
• 22:07
  Tumblr's peak was before. The era of body.
• 22:09
  Positivity and inclusivity. Scrolling through the dashboard,
• 22:12
  used users would be bombarded with thigh gaps and flat tummies
• 22:16
  and seeing this over and over conditioned many young.
• 22:19
  Girls to see this slim body type as the only.
• 22:22
  Acceptable. Look, this led to the.
• 22:24
  Proliferation of Pro Ana communities.
• 22:27
  Short for pro anorexia, A subculture that promotes eating
• 22:30
  disorders. Many of these blogs glorified,
• 22:33
  encouraged, or promoted anorexia, including self harm
• 22:37
  and self-destructive thoughts. Tumblr did try to monitor this
• 22:41
  type of content, announcing various.
• 22:43
  Policies against self harm images, GIFs and videos over the
• 22:47
  years, however these. Blogs would continue to pop.
• 22:49
  Up largely because. Of the platform's formats.
• 22:52
  As Kelly Berday writes for Vice quote.
• 22:54
  Tumblr's quick reblogging format is perfect for.
• 22:57
  Populating the numerous pro. Anna and Thinspo and Self Harm
• 23:00
  Blogs While Pro Anna circles might have provided a sense of
• 23:04
  connection and alleviated loneliness, it was extremely
• 23:07
  dangerous for young users, especially as many of them were
• 23:10
  working through or had a predisposition to mental
• 23:13
  illness. As a result, many adopted
• 23:16
  maladaptive coping mechanisms and embraced negative messaging
• 23:20
  about body image. As Burday notes, this
• 23:22
  disproportionately affected young women.
• 23:24
  Quote but what I found especially notable.
• 23:27
  Throughout all the self harm. Tumblers was one thing.
• 23:30
  The age and Gender of the Self Harmers, almost without
• 23:33
  exception, every Pro Anna or Self Mutilation Tumblr.
• 23:36
  I read was a high school or college aged girl.
• 23:39
  All in all, one thing that we can take.
• 23:41
  Away from both the positive. And the negative types of
• 23:44
  communities on Tumblr was that much of it was organized around
• 23:47
  different aesthetics. This, of course, stemmed from
• 23:50
  the platform's focus on visual features and functions.
• 23:53
  While there were many popular aesthetics across Tumblr
• 23:55
  subcultures, 1 reigned supreme. The 2014 Tumblr Girl, She
• 24:01
  embraced the indie sleaze vibe wearing a flannel wrapped around
• 24:04
  her. Waist an oversized.
• 24:06
  Denim jacket, fishnets, and of. Course docks.
• 24:10
  It was all very Effie. From Skins core Popular music at
• 24:13
  the time only intensified the soft grunge aesthetic.
• 24:16
  With the likes of Arctic. Monkeys, the 1975 Lord and Lana
• 24:20
  Del Rey dominating the platform like we discussed in our Addison
• 24:24
  Rae episode, She has been. Credited with bringing this
• 24:26
  aesthetic back. However, as Maria Santa.
• 24:29
  Paggi writes for Vogue quote. Characters like Maeve Wiley from
• 24:32
  sex. Education and pop star Olivia
• 24:34
  Rodrigo also take. Cues from young, grungy women
• 24:37
  from almost a decade ago. But with A twist while.
• 24:40
  The 2014 Tumblr. Girl has.
• 24:43
  Been 2024 a 5. The fact that this aesthetic.
• 24:46
  Lives on just shows how long. Lasting the impact of this.
• 24:51
  Platform on Internet culture, beauty, and fashion has been
• 24:54
  well, many. Gen.
• 24:55
  ZS and millennials might feel nostalgic for the Tumblr era.
• 24:58
  The platform is nowhere near. As popular as it once was.
• 25:02
  So what happened? And why did Tumblr fall from
• 25:05
  grace? In 2013, Yahoo acquired Tumblr
• 25:09
  for then staggering $1.1 billion.
• 25:13
  As mentioned in the intro, many Tumblr users were concerned
• 25:16
  about this acquisition, resulting in a petition that
• 25:19
  gained almost 170,000 signatures.
• 25:22
  As reported by the. Guardian quote in a conference
• 25:24
  call with Wall Street investors. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO.
• 25:28
  In 2013, said the acquisition would.
• 25:30
  Grow Yahoo's audience by 50. Percent to more than 1 billion
• 25:34
  people and increase its total traffic by 20%, she said.
• 25:37
  The company would not place ads on Tumblr blog sites without
• 25:40
  their permission or plaster the hip blogging site with Yahoo
• 25:44
  corporate branding, A cautious move designed to appease its
• 25:47
  most. Skeptical users.
• 25:49
  In announcing this acquisition, Mayor famously promised.
• 25:52
  We are not going to screw this up.
• 25:54
  But unfortunately, she was unable to keep that promise.
• 25:57
  Yahoo. Struggled to understand the
• 25:59
  platform and its culture. It brought advertisers on board
• 26:02
  and pushed the company. To meet steep sales targets,
• 26:05
  mayor publicly set a sales. Goal of $100 million in 2015.
• 26:10
  For context, Tumblr generated only $13 million of revenue in
• 26:15
  2012. Prior to the Yahoo acquisition.
• 26:18
  And after the acquisition, it generated 13 million in its
• 26:21
  first quarter in two 2013. Still a far cry.
• 26:24
  From the $100 million? Target.
• 26:26
  According to a former Tumblr executive.
• 26:28
  Who spoke with Digi Day? Quote that was completely
• 26:31
  made-up from nowhere. Nobody knew where that number
• 26:33
  came. From but she used it.
• 26:35
  It was crazy. Because $100 million was not
• 26:37
  even remotely close to attainable in January 2015,
• 26:41
  Tumblr sales team was integrated.
• 26:43
  Into Yahoo sales team. This ousted Lee Brown.
• 26:46
  Who? Was the head of brand.
• 26:47
  Partnerships for Tumblr at the time, Brown's departure along
• 26:50
  with these unrealistic. Sales goals caused a large sales
• 26:54
  exodus. Many former staffers have
• 26:56
  publicly stated that. The company culture was the best
• 26:58
  part about working at Tumblr when the sales team integrated.
• 27:01
  With Yahoo's, they lost that within the year Yahoo started.
• 27:05
  Trying to undo the changes. That they made to Tumblr.
• 27:08
  Sales team when they? Failed to hit target.
• 27:10
  But the constant reorganization of Tumblr sales structure, and
• 27:13
  the turnover that accompanied it, made it difficult for Tumblr
• 27:16
  sales staff to make a compelling case to brands and advertisers.
• 27:20
  Things only became more. Difficult for the sales team.
• 27:23
  When, ten months after the Yahoo acquisition, they still lacked
• 27:26
  the identity information of their users that brands needed
• 27:30
  to pay for. Ads.
• 27:31
  Though anonymity was a huge. Draw for users the.
• 27:34
  Platforms inability to provide advertisers.
• 27:36
  With the real. World identity of these users
• 27:39
  quote was tumblers key failing, said Mark Cotney, who worked on
• 27:43
  Tumblers, media and business partnerships in the 20 Tens.
• 27:46
  As Jim Edwards writes for Business Insider.
• 27:48
  Quote, Tumblr could be a hard sell to marketers who like
• 27:52
  knowing whom they're directing their ads at.
• 27:53
  This is tricky on Tumblr because the service does not.
• 27:56
  Require people to. Give more than an e-mail when
• 27:58
  they sign up for an account. Additionally, the company had.
• 28:01
  To put a lot of. Focus into integrating with
• 28:04
  Yahoos tech systems. This led to a.
• 28:06
  Deprioritization. Imperfecting a mobile product
• 28:09
  which competitors like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram had all
• 28:12
  prioritized to make matters. Worse in May 2000. 16 The
• 28:17
  company revealed that it had a major.
• 28:19
  Data breach. Back in 2013.
• 28:21
  The e-mail addresses and passwords.
• 28:23
  Of over 65,000,000 users were stolen and offered for sale on
• 28:28
  the dark web by 2016, Yahoo wrote down Tumblr's value by
• 28:33
  several $100 million. The exact the act.
• 28:35
  Figure seems to differ. From report to report.
• 28:39
  In 2017, Verizon purchased Yahoo and placed Tumblr under its
• 28:43
  subsidiary Oath Media. David Karp.
• 28:46
  Tumblr's founder and lead executive announced that he
• 28:49
  would be leaving the company at the end of that year.
• 28:52
  So much of what Yahoo did to Tumblr is similar to what news.
• 28:55
  Corp did to Myspace these. Parent companies introduced a
• 28:59
  ton of corporate. Bureaucracy that resulted in a.
• 29:02
  Significantly worse user experience, both Marissa Mayer
• 29:06
  and Rupert Murdoch have since said.
• 29:08
  They regret how they handled the acquisitions of these youth.
• 29:11
  Platforms, but things didn't get better for Tumblr under Verizon.
• 29:16
  User Activity. Had plummeted from 100 million
• 29:19
  daily active users in 2014 to just 30 million in 2018.
• 29:24
  As user activity declined and the sales team continued to
• 29:27
  struggle getting advertisers on board, the company made a
• 29:30
  decision that would go against everything Tumblr stood for.
• 29:35
  On December 17th, 2018, Tumblr banned all content that.
• 29:40
  Featured Nudity. This decision has been.
• 29:42
  Referred to as a. Knee jerk reaction by many.
• 29:45
  While adult content on the site had long concerned advertisers,
• 29:49
  this content underpinned many of the subcultures.
• 29:52
  That made the platform so successful so.
• 29:55
  Tumblr hadn't done anything about it, but in November 2018,
• 29:58
  Tumblr was removed from the Apple App Store for the presence
• 30:01
  of child pornography on the app. Weeks later.
• 30:05
  Tumblr implemented the nudity ban, as Katie Canals writes for
• 30:08
  Business Insider. Quote in 2018, the so-called
• 30:12
  Tumblr Apocalypse set in when the company controversially
• 30:15
  banned sexually explicit content after Apple.
• 30:17
  Removed. The app from its store, citing
• 30:19
  evidence of child pornography. It was a pivotal moment in the
• 30:23
  company's history and prompted. Scores of users to flee.
• 30:27
  Within two months of this ban, Tumblr lost 30% of its site
• 30:31
  traffic. The nudity ban also led to other
• 30:34
  moderation. Issues The site used automated
• 30:36
  tools to flag sexual. Content, however, the
• 30:39
  implementation of. Those tools was glitchy as.
• 30:43
  Previously mentioned LGBTQ posts and trans posts were frequently
• 30:47
  flagged as sexual content, even when they weren't.
• 30:50
  Quote LGBTQ posts were. Often flagged as inappropriate
• 30:53
  while other content was not people who wanted.
• 30:55
  To share their stories about. Their gender transitions found
• 30:58
  that their posts were being blocked.
• 31:00
  Even posts that did not feature explicit imagery, such as some
• 31:03
  fan fiction, were being taken down.
• 31:05
  Writes Claire Fahey. For the New York Times.
• 31:08
  Rachel Siegel for the. Washington Post explains quote.
• 31:10
  Tumblr had long been. Considered a safe space for.
• 31:13
  Exploring identity, but some creators said Tumblr's ban
• 31:16
  eliminated. A place where LGBTQ communities
• 31:19
  and other people with. Marginalized gender and Sexual
• 31:21
  identities found support In May 2019, it was reported that
• 31:25
  Verizon was considered selling Tumblr due to its ongoing issues
• 31:29
  since Yahoos purchase in 2013 Pornhubs.
• 31:32
  Vice President actually publicly stated that they would buy the.
• 31:36
  Platform and lift the nudity ban, effective immediately.
• 31:39
  But by August. 20/19 it was announced that Automatic best
• 31:43
  known for running. WordPress would.
• 31:45
  Acquire Tumblr for an amount that was reportedly less than 3
• 31:50
  million dollars. Automatic also announced that it
• 31:54
  would not make any changes to Tumblr's existing nudity ban.
• 31:58
  While Tumblr has certainly gone through some trying times, the
• 32:01
  platform found recent popularity in a new demographic, younger
• 32:05
  Gen. Z's who didn't get to experience
• 32:07
  the platform in its. Heyday, as well as those.
• 32:09
  Returning to the platform for a hit of nostalgia in a 2022
• 32:13
  article for The New Yorker, Internet culture journalist Kyle
• 32:16
  Chaka. Highlighted that quote 48.
• 32:18
  Percent of Tumblr's active users and 61 percent of its new ones
• 32:22
  are Generation Z. This, of course, comes at a time
• 32:25
  when every major social media. Platform, Essentially aside from
• 32:29
  TikTok, is worried about how to keep this generation engaged.
• 32:32
  What distinguishes Tumblr from other social networks is its
• 32:35
  departure from the typical trend of platforms copying each
• 32:38
  other's features. Chaka notes that Tumblr.
• 32:41
  Appears to focus. Quote on the unusual.
• 32:43
  Pursuit of preservation, he goes.
• 32:45
  On to note that out of the Tumblr.
• 32:46
  Users, he spoke to this. Is something that they enjoy.
• 32:49
  Quote What makes Tumblr obsolete for the moment are the same
• 32:52
  things that lend to an enduring appeal.
• 32:55
  The fact. That it maintains a following
• 32:57
  should remind us that we use social media.
• 32:59
  Services by choice. No platform or feature is an
• 33:02
  inevitability. Aside from seeking out a slower
• 33:05
  paced social media platform, returning to platforms past
• 33:08
  aligns with Gen. Z's penchant for nostalgia.
• 33:11
  Much of this demographic is seeking a sense of comfort in
• 33:14
  very tumultuous times, and Tumblr also aligns with Gen.
• 33:17
  Z's interest in being more private on social media and
• 33:20
  building community. So that brings us to today,
• 33:23
  while Tumblr's future feels more promising that it has in.
• 33:26
  Over a decade, it's arguably too early to tell if this resurgence
• 33:30
  will last. A lot of damage has been done.
• 33:32
  To the platform's reputation. Since Yahoo's acquisition, and
• 33:35
  though Gen. Z has a penchant for nostalgia
• 33:38
  now. They are already.
• 33:39
  Aging out as the quintessential youth generation With Gen.
• 33:43
  Alpha fast approaching teenagehood, that leaves us with
• 33:47
  an unanswered question. Can Tumblr really make a
• 33:49
  comeback? Or will these early?
• 33:51
  Internet platforms remain obsolete for a generation who
• 33:55
  never experienced their heydays. To begin with, Infinite Scroll
• 34:00
  is a podcast written, produced, and presented by me, Lauren
• 34:03
  Meisner, for Centennial World. Additional research and
• 34:06
  reporting is by Annabelle Ben David.
• 34:08
  Preliminary research is by Nick Meisner.
• 34:10
  Editing is by Danny Fennick. Thank you guys so much for
• 34:13
  listening to Infinite. Scroll.
• 34:15
  I love you guys. So much and I will.
• 34:16
  Talk to you next week.