Home
Products
Solutions
Reports
Company
Blog
Contact Us
Client Login

Posts Tagged ‘tumblr’

What’s Next for Tumblr?

Tumblr is a strange beast.

It’s one of the fastest-growing and increasingly popular social media services but arguably it hasn’t been seen as terribly sexy.

Look at the fawning coverage of Pinterest or Path, and then compare it to Tumblr, which had an astounding 14 billion pageviews in December versus three billion in December 2011.

It is difficult to get a handle on the measured embrace of Tumblr but it have to do with how many people are waiting for Tumblr’s next move. Despite Tumblr’s strong growth, it is struggling to find a business model. But with a ton of venture capital, Tumblr has the luxury of time to figure it out.

In the meantime, it seems people have given Tumblr the benefit of the doubt without getting overly excited about its prospects.

Another thesis may be that people don’t see Tumblr as a business with strong revenue potential because it’s a free service used by many people for personal reasons to publish short posts, particularly photos. This contrasts with how many blogs are used to do personal branding or support a business.

It could mean there is a wait-and-see approach to Tumblr. While it’s popular with users, there may be some pragmatism from a financial standpoint. Having raised $85-million venture capital in a deal that valued it at $800-million last September, 2012 is the year in which Tumblr will demonstrate it’s a business with lots of potential or a really interesting project.

There are some indications of what may lie head.

Last week, Tumblr CEO David Karp told Business Insider that the company has been playing around with the idea of non-intrusive ads, which sounds a lot like Twitter’s embrace of advertising.

Meanwhile, Gawker reported last week Tumblr is building an editorial team, which could be used to curate Tumblr’s best content.

As Twitter followers have discovered, it is difficult to predict how Tumblr could turn the corner business-wise even as it becomes more popular. Until then, Tumblr will remain interesting but maybe not the belle of the ball.

 

 

By Mark Evans - January 9th, 2012 - No Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Posted in Social Media

Tumblr: Social Media’s Next Superstar?

Are you a Tumblr?

These days, the number of people using Tumblr is growing by leaps and bounds, attracting 13 million pageviews a month, compared with two billion at the beginning of the year. Tumblr attracts 72 million visitors a month, more than half of them from outside the U.S., according to Quantcast,

So who’s using Tumblr and why?

The Nielsen Co. suggests there are more women (53.5%) than men (46.5%) using Tumblr, and the dominant demographic group is people 18-to-34-years-old (44.4%), while the 35-to-49-year-old demographic ranks second at 25.2%.

Tumblr’s appeal likely lies in its simplicity and user-friendliness. As self-hosted service, it is easy to set up an account on Tumblr, do some minor customization, and then start posting text (aka blog posts), photos, videos, quotes or music.

Tumblr has many of the same features as WordPress.com and Blogger.com but it comes across as easier and hipper although no one could argue that Blogger was ever hip.

Another attractive thing about Tumblr is how easy it can be used as a mobile application. Personally, I used Tumblr’s iPhone app to post photographs as opposed to using a pure photo app such as Instagram.

While Tumblr has been experiencing tremendous growth, it will be interesting to see what unfolds now that it has raised $85-million in venture capital from a group of investors that inclues Greylock Partners, Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Richard Branson.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tumblr-raises-85-million-from-greylock-parters-and-ivp-2011-9#ixzz1ZuDMzqTL

Are you a Tumblr? If so, why do you use it, and what do you primarily use it to do?

By Mark Evans - October 5th, 2011 - 5 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Posted in Social Media

Social Media’s Other Superstars

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube dominant the social media landscape but there are plenty of other services that are thriving and, in the process, attracting millions of users.

Here’s a list featuring some of the players that should also be considered “superstars”:

1. StumbleUpon: After being purchased by eBay, StumbleUpon fell off the radar. But after re-purchased by co-founders Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith (and a group of investors), StumbleUpon has come soaring back to life. In June, StatCounter said StumbleUpon was the biggest traffic driver among social media Web sites in the U.S., topping Facebook. If you haven’t used StumbleUpon in a while or haven’t used it at all, it’s pleasantly surprising to see how much it provides as a discovery tool

2. Reddit: Far too startups are stifled when they are purchased by a large corporate entity. Reddit, however, has thrived since it was purchased by Conde Nast Publications in 2006. For many years, Reddit took a back seat to Digg within the news-sharing world but that has changed as Reddit continues to gain traction while Digg struggles to stay viable.

3. Tumblr: With 450 million pageviews a day (and 8.5 billion a month), Tumblr has rocketed into the top tier as millions of people discover blogs that feature more multi-media, videos and photography than “traditional” blogs powered by services such as WordPress and Blogger.

4. Viadeo: Despite having 35 million users, Viadeo get nowhere near the same amount of attention as LinkedIn. Viadeo is a strong presence in Europe, India, South America and China.

5. Hi5: Another example of a social networking service that has thrived outside North America. With 11.5 million users, hi5 has carved out a niche by offering interactive games, selling virtual goods and offering a wide variety of games.

Any suggestions on other social media services that should be part of this group?

By Mark Evans - July 11th, 2011 - 6 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Posted in Social Media

Tumblr: Social Media’s New Star?

For all the talk about WordPress and Twitter, another social media player attracting more attention within the blogging/microblogging world is Tumblr.

Over the past year, the number of unique visitors in the U.S. visiting Tumblr has more than doubled to 8.3 million – something that doesn’t get a lot of attention within the social media landscape.

Tumblr is probably best known for being part of Union Square Ventures’ investment portfolio, which also includes Twitter. But Tumblr is starting to carve out its own identity as a social media star.

So why is Tumblr gaining so much traction?

In simple terms, Tumblr falls in the sweetspot between a blog and Twitter. It’s a service offering users the ability to write articles, or post photos, links, audio, videos, quotes. Tumblr isn’t quite as serious as a blog but it offers a bigger platform than Twitter.

As well, Tumblr is user-friendly. Setting up an account, and then creating posts is pretty straightforward. This makes it attractive to people who want an online platform but want something simple and easy.

The nice thing about Tumblr for people who have blogs or use Twitter is it’s a different kind of animal that can fit into a digital portfolio. This may help explain why Tumblr has started to emerge as a tier one member of the social member universe.

By Mark Evans - November 29th, 2010 - 1 Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Posted in Social Media

Is Tumblr the Perfect Social Media Service?

A year ago, Tumblr was a solid micro-blogging service with some noterity, including the fact that one of its investors, Union Square Ventures, was also an investor in this thing called Twitter.

In many respects, Tumblr was a Web 2.0 success story that didn’t get as much credit as it deserved. The New York-based company had more than two million unique visitors a month and a loyal following but it didn’t get anywhere near the attention of Twitter, Facebook, Linked or Foursquare.

That was then, this is now.

For whatever reason, Tumblr has become the belle of the social media ball. According to Compete.com, the number of unique visitors has more than tripled in the past year to 8.5 million. As well, Tumblr has attracted glowing coverage from high-profile publications such as the New York Times.

So, what happened? Why has Tumblr emerged as one of the hottest social media properties, while Foursquare has failed to live up to all the hype and bullish expectations.

This is just a theory but Tumblr may be the perfect social media service.

It’s a hybrid between a blog, Twitter and Facebook. Tumblr can be used as a blogging platform but it is also designed to showcase photographs, videos, links, quotes, chats, and audio.

Tumblr fits nicely into how a growing number of people like and want to use social media because it doesn’t require as much work as a blog but, at the same time, it provides a larger and more satisfying canvas than writing short updates or tweets.

In other words, Tumblr lets you eat your social media cake and have it too.

Amid the growing attention on Tumblr, I decided to dust off my account to see whether the fuss was justified. What I discovered is that Tumblr is a different and unique social media service.

The most compelling aspect is it can be used to do just about anything depending on your interests or mood. Tumblr is user-friendly and a way for people to create and distribute content in a way that feels satisfying. It’s like having a meal in which you feel like you’ve eaten just enough.

As an enthusiastic blogger and Twitter user, Tumblr has taken some adjustment, as well as time to figure out how it fits into my social media portfolio. To be honest, it’s still work in progress.

Right now, I’m feeding Tumblr with content from other blogs but this doesn’t seem like the right use for Tumblr. Instead, Tumblr strikes me as a place for different kind of social media activity – photographs, a place to put the spotlight on good content, share music or video.

The other thing that is interesting about Tumblr is how it enjoyed steady growth until it finally burst into the spotlight this year. The company focused on providing a useful, user-friendly service while avoiding the hype that has probably damaged Foursquare’s prospects.

Now, the stars and moon are starting to align for Tumblr to the point where it may be poised to join blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube as the top-tier social media services.

By Mark Evans - August 24th, 2010 - 2 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Posted in Social Media

© Copyright 2005-2012 Sysomos Inc. All rights reserved.