User:Ecohen22/sandbox

Features

Most of the features provided by Tumblr are made for convenient micro blogging.

• Dashboard - The dashboard is the primary tool for the typical Tumblr user. It is a live feed of recent posts from blogs that they follow. Through the dashboard, users are able to comment, reblog, and like posts from other blogs that appear on their dashboard. The Dashboard allows the user to easily upload text posts, images, video, quotes, or lings to their blog with a simple click of a button displayed at the top of the Dashboard. Users are also able to link their posts to their Twitter and Facebook pages, so whenever they make a post, it will also be sent as a tweet and a status update.

• Pages - Users are able to fill their blogs with different “pages” to help them organize their blog. For example, people can create pages for their Bio, Contact Info, Images, or whatever they want. The creator of a blog can use a Standard Layout, where every pages mirrors the home page. Or they can set their blog to have Custom Layouts so each page has a unique look.

• Tags - For each post a user creates, they are able to help their audience find posts about certain topics by adding tags. If someone were to upload a picture to their blog and wanted their viewers to find pictures, they would add the tag #picture, and their viewers could use that word to search up posts with the tag #pictures.

• HTML Editing - Tumblr allows users to actually go into their blogs HTML coding which allows them almost total control over how their blog looks and feels to their audience. Users are able to alter their blogs domain name to whatever custom domain they want, providing they actually own a domain. Also, everyone can enable their blog for Google Analytics to help them track the traffic their blog is getting.

• Widgets - To help customize blogs, users are able to put widgets on their blog to give it something unique. These would include Twitter feeds, livestream apps, or music players that begin playing music when other users view their blog.

• Queve - Users are able to set up a schedule to delay posts that they make. They can spread their posts over several hours or even days.

Criticism

Tumblr has received criticism for the ability of bloggers to violate copyright. Tumblr's visual appeal has made it a haven for photoblogs, which often times include copyrighted works from others and publishing them without payment. Tumblr users are able to post content that isn't their own by "Re-blogging". “Re-blogging” involves pressing a button that allows users to re-post content that they found on a blog which they subscribe to, onto their own blog.

Tumblr has also been criticized because a large portion of the platform's traffic is driven by adult content. Tumblr is the perfect vehicle for image porn: It displays lots of photos in large formats with few words and lots of tags and referrals for viewers who want more in the same vein. While mainstream advertisers with real money are sitting on the sidelines, porn bloggers are earning money by referring traffic to adult businesses through referrals and widgets. In a study done by Web.App Storm using the free search keyword tool from SEOBook.com, they found that the vast majority of search terms for the microblogging platform were porn related. Including three in the top ten. In addition, "Tumblr Porn" searches on Google have risen in pretty much the same dramatic fashion as general interest in Tumblr has increased.

Tumblr has been criticized for over pricing. Tumblr recently attempted to charge $150,000 for a single banner ad on its fashion week site. Tumblr has had spam problems as well. The site recently experienced a chain letter scam that claimed 130,000 victims.

Finances

Tumblr made $13 million in revenue in 2012 and hopes to make $100 million in 2013. So far, Tumblr has taken $125 million in funding from its backers. Tumblr reportedly spent $25 million to fund operations last year.

During the first half of 2013, Tumblr, Inc will allow companies to pay to promote their own posts to a larger audience. Tumblr Head of Sales, Lee Brown, states that the average ad purchase on Tumblr is just under six figures. Brown also states that this functionality will lead Tumblr to profitability in 2013.

Tumblr also generates revenue by selling premium “themes” to users to change the look of their blog.

Culture

Tumblr consists of approximately 11 billion posts, and users post an average of 14 original posts every month and those, in turn, are reblogged by other users at least three times. Posts usually show, on one’s feed, how many “likes” a post has received but it does not show how many re-posts unless a user goes to the dashboard of the user who originally posted it. Then all of the people who have liked and reblogged the post can be seen.

Over the course of one year Tumblr gained 7.7 million U.S. users. Tumblr escalated from 4.2 million U.S. users in May 2010 to 11.9 million in May 2011, which was said to have been a 183% increase, according to Nielsen.

At the end of 2012 Tumblr made the list of top 10 most popular websites. Tumblr has also become more useful for selling and marketing which has come in handy for the fashion industry, and because of Tumblr’s popularity with pictures 20% of Tumblr users are dedicated to fashion. In addition, according to an article about Tumblr in 2013, Coca-Cola, Adidas, and Whole Foods are in on it as well. They are using their brand names and products on Tumblr to advertise and these businesses look desirable to users because they are relating to the interests of the users through the tools Tumblr provides.

It is said that Tumblr has become a second or third platform for brands. Many brands have their own Tumblr pages in addition to their original websites.

Tumblr has a great benefit that Facebook and Twitter lack, which is its “social amplification and SEO”. Facebook posts have an approximate viewing time of 18 hours and Twitter only 18 minutes. Tumblr, on the other hand, differs because its posts can be seen and reblogged months after their original post.

“Tumblr distinguishes itself as more of an aspirational social network, a place you go to hang out with the people you wish were your friends.” A good portion of Tumblr’s growing popularity has to do with the accounts of actors, musicians, and other famous people/groups. These people post their own personal photos, thoughts, etc., and any other ordinary Tumblr user can like/reblog these posts as if they were friends with this particular celebrity/group.

In addition, Tumblr users are considered a “world creator” after joining the world of Tumblr. Tumblr currently has approximately 53 million blogs, “which include teenage diary-type opining, video clips from aspiring auteurs, and many, many pictures of cats,” but there is also much, much more to Tumblr. The site receives more than 16 billion monthly page views, most of which are from people between the age of 18 and 35, and are mostly women.

Tumblr as a company does much research on how individuals as well as companies use the site. “Everyone at the company is at pains not to call it ‘advertising,’” because Tumblr simply wants the site to be a place “where you can post thoughts, images, links--just like any blog,” and it is a place where its users can express themselves and have fun. Its priority purpose is to act as a social network for people, not an advertising site, even though many accounts are used for such.