TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr's plan to connect its blogging site to the decentralized social media landscape, known as the "fediverse," is still in progress. Despite recent staff cuts and a reorganization at Tumblr's parent company, Automattic, the integration with ActivityPub, the protocol used by decentralized platforms like Mastodon, is ongoing. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg clarified that someone had been assigned to work on the fediverse integration, and the effort will continue in the new year. Tumblr is exploring connecting to the fediverse but has not seen significant user demand for federated social media yet.
31 posts categorized "Tumblr"
Tumblr Still Exploring Integration With Decentralized Social Media Despite Delays
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Tumblr Tests 'Communities,' Semi-private Groups With Their Moderators and Feeds
TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr Labs, the experimental division of Automattic's Tumblr, has launched a new feature called "Communities." This experimental feature aims to create a dedicated space within Tumblr for users to network around specific topics, similar to Reddit's subreddits or Twitter's Communities. Communities will be semi-private spaces with moderators, rules, and privacy settings. Users can create communities for various purposes, such as fan groups for TV shows, movies, artists, or video games and groups for people with shared interests like attending the same school or participating in board game activities.
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Tumblr Ends Post Plus Subscription Feature Amid Financial Challenges
INDIA TV NEWS - Tumblr is discontinuing its Post Plus feature starting Dec 1. Creators can't generate new Post Plus content, and existing content becomes private from Jan 2024. The decision, prompted by challenges meeting usage and revenue goals, follows Automattic's focus on essential platform features. Despite initial plans for a TikTok-style feed, financial difficulties have led to a restructuring plan, starting with the cessation of Post Plus, signaling the platform's shift in direction under Automattic's ownership.
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Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Details Tumblr's Future After Re-org
TECH CRUNCH - Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, discusses the future of Tumblr following a significant reorganization. The move involves transferring most of Tumblr's workforce to other projects within Automattic due to ongoing financial challenges. Mullenweg addresses questions in an AMA session, covering topics such as staff changes, monetization plans, advertising strategies, and the platform's integration with ActivityPub.
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Tumblr Revamps Web Interface, Drawing Inspiration from X
TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr unveils a new web interface, reminiscent of X (formerly Twitter), featuring a left-aligned navigation bar and a bottom-left compose button. The redesign aims to enhance user experience and accessibility by offering text labels in navigation. This change follows feedback from users during the testing phase and reflects Tumblr's effort to attract both new and existing users.
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Tumblr CEO Reveals $30M Annual Losses
TECH CRUNCH - CEO Matt Mullenweg has disclosed that Tumblr is experiencing annual losses of around $30M. Despite efforts to increase user numbers and revenue through features like paid verification and improving the user experience, Tumblr is facing challenges in becoming profitable due to its unique user base and their unconventional consumer behavior.
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Tumblr Aims to Improve User Experience and Attract New Users
THE VERGE - Tumblr plans to revamp its core experience to attract new users and make the platform more user-friendly. The proposed changes include redesigning the reply and reblog features, aiming to simplify conversations and reduce confusion for new users. Tumblr also intends to enhance the discoverability of the platform, improve algorithmic ranking, and encourage frequent engagement.
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Tumblr Playfully Trolls Twitter in Latest Jab
THE STATESMAN - With ~572M blogs, Tumblr cleverly mocks Twitter's recent content restrictions on its sign-up page, allowing users to enjoy limitless content. This isn't the first time Tumblr has playfully targeted Twitter, as they previously mocked the controversies surrounding Blue subscriptions.
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Tumblr Turned Social Media Polls Into a Game Design Challenge
THE VERGE - Tumblr's on-brand creative mayhem has adapted polls into a simple gaming platform. The poll sets challenges for readers at varying levels of difficulty and surrealism. Some of these games are popularity contests. Users have several ways to inform each other of the game’s current status like direct comments, or reblogging.
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Here's How Every Social Media Company Is Adopting Subscriptions
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter first introduced its paid subscription, Twitter Blue, in Jun 2021 and relaunch the plan with features like a Blue verification mark and priority in replies. There are ~180K paid accounts in the US and 290K paid accounts worldwide. Meta also announced a premium program for Facebook and Instagram called "Meta Verified” which will be available to users based in Australia and New Zealand. This new plan will get users a Blue tick. Snapchat launched Snapchat+ last Jun in ~20 countries with ~2M paid subscribers now. It can pin someone as their No. 1 friend, priority in replies to Snap Star, and the ability to see "the general direction of travel for where friends have moved recently". Reddit's premium membership program will give users perks like ad-free browsing, custom avatars, and Reddit coins to give awards to posters. While Tumblr's subscription is ad-free browsing.
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Tumblr iOS Revenue Increased 125% Since Launching Its Parody of Paid Verification
TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr's parody of paid verification has delivered the platform a 125% boost in iOS in-app purchase revenue since November, according to a new analysis of the app's in-app consumer spending. The company, now operated by WordPress owner Automattic following its 2019 acquisition, launched its response to Twitter's paid verification hustle with the addition of its own purely cosmetic double blue checks.
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Firefox & Tumblr Team up to Support Mastodon Open-Source Social Network
IANS - Firefox and Tumblr have teamed up to support Mastodon, the open-source social network, amid Elon Musk's efforts to disparage the rival platform. The company announced that it would begin to run a Mastodon "instance", one of the decentralized servers upon which the social network rests.
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Tumblr to Add Support for Social Network Protocol ActivityPub
TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr will add support for ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social networking protocol that is powering social networking software like Twitter alternative Mastodon, the Instagram-like Pixelfed, video streaming service PeerTube, and others. The ActivityPub protocol provides a client-to-server API for creating, updating, and deleting content, as well as a federal server-to-server API for delivering notifications and subscribing to content. If Tumblr were to add ActivityPub support, it means users on Mastodon could follow Tumblr users' posts from their own Mastodon instance - without having to use the Tumblr app.
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Tumblr's Only Viable Business Model Is Shitposting
TECH CRUNCH - Tumblr offered users $8 for two blue checks. If users keep paying Tumblr, they can get even more blue checks. Tumblr's initial rollout of its Post+ subscription rollout was a mess, as users worried how the harsh reality of capitalism would change their fandom paradise. But Tumblr users have proven to be highly willing to pay money for ad-free browsing and shitposting. Tumblr’s mobile app has seen ~$507K in consumer spending since April.
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Tumblr Adds New Filters and Hints at Looser Moderation Rules
SAMACHAR CENTRAL - Tumblr is adding a new filtering feature called "community labels." Tumblr's parent company, Automattic, says its broader rules haven't changed so far - but the feature might lay the groundwork for a more liberal moderation policy. Community labels make the site's moderation tools more granular. Tumblr's new policies will be "more in line" with WordPress.com.
by Hemalata Nenete
See full article at Samachar Central
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