Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

1. Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.
2. Provide high-quality content with every app launch.
3. Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.
4. Retain and grow our creator base.
5. Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.
6. Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Keep reading

Tumblr Advisor Board

I think it could be cool to put together a board of the top Tumblristas in the world, that could see previews of what's coming up and advise on strategic direction. Who should be on it?

Dearest Tumblr!

I have returned from my meditative retreat atop the secluded mountain of the Pikaman, to resume my duties as Chief Merch Officer of the @emporium.

But Abstract Reactions will forever be in my heart — I’m even considering getting them tattooed! 

Just to refresh your memories, on April 1st, Tumblr provided you with a bunch of Reactions to use on posts! Specifically, the emojis I had most recently used on my phone… I’m SO proud of how much incredible ENGAGEMENT the product received. 

Over 100,000 of you spirited react-ers participated — and how many reactions did everyone use, you might wonder? Well, wonder no longer, I’ll tell ya! 

• 🐛 was used over 20 million times.
• 🧀 was used over 7 million times.
• 🦀 was used over 3.8 million times.
• And tied for fourth, 4️⃣ and 👻 and 🐴 were used over 2 million times each!

The special SUPER reactions of 🦄, Pikaman, 🍪, and even me, Brick myself, were unlocked over 15,000 times!

And at least one clever person figured out that I never thought about checking if someone could send negative reactions, so it turns out someone sent in over 120 million negative 🧀 reactions! So many cheesed posts got un-cheesed with that anti-cheese — and you know what, I’m not even mad about it! 

Here’s to 🐛! Cheers!

Yours clickingly,
Brick

Oh no. It’s our 15th anniversary.

Oh god. That’s 1 5 years of your nonsense. Don’t worry—it comes as a surprise to literally all of us that the world continued to do its thing, bringing us to this point.

So, how you been keeping since we celebrated the big one-oh, well, five years ago now?

A bratty teenager at heart, Tumblr has remained the same hellsite you’ve always made it: with your faves, aesthetics, and fandoms, your blogs and sideblogs, your reblog chains and tag conversations. Some of you will have been here for The Dress and the ball pit; some of you know those as lore but only come here for the sexymen and, idk, bees, the bee movie. And you’re all valid.

Throughout February, we’ll be reblogging some of the most iconic reblog chains from our time here with you to @best-of-reblogs. To kick it all off, here is a selection of ~moments~ y’all have manifested. You obviously don’t need us to talk about this—you do that enough among yourselves. But, for heritage purposes, here’s the lowdown anyhow. Don’t mind us while we lurk in the back with the popcorn.

~

Friends.

We all learned that friends come in many shapes and sizes—some of your favorite friend shapes are frogs, Furbies, worms-on-a-string, and orbs.

You asked your faves a bazillion questions.

You’ve asked Neil Gaiman about your ineffable husband headcanons, Joseph Gordon-Levit for filmmaking tips, and Taylor Swift about re-recording her albums and the provenance of Meredith and Olivia’s names. All ask answerers have remained equal here, where follower counts are private, and “influencer” is a dirty word.

Standing up for what’s right.

In the last five years, you continued to fight for net neutrality. You worked towards making the internet a safer, kinder, and more joyful space. You’ve celebrated and lamented three very different US presidents. You’ve rallied in the face of racism, learning from and educating each other.

All the memes.

From Superputinelection to the disruption of the international shipping trade, you learned about real-world happenings right here on Tumblr. You remixed reality with the best of ’em in a celebration of new traditions and old—some now illegal to scroll past without reblogging, while reblogging others constitutes a crime. Then there’s the homegrown variety lurking in the depths of tags and posts that couldn’t go viral anywhere but here.

Cottagecore Aesthetics.

You started craving the simpler things in life—the woods, frogs, dresses with aprons, gingham, homemade pies—in an unforeseen age that made living those dreams impossible outside of moodboards, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley. Your cottagecore hopes and dreams fueled the Radar and log-in screen.

Destiel goes canon.

In what became one of the biggest moments on Tumblr in the last five years, Destiel went canon. Many times. In many languages. In memes, on your televisions, on your blogs. For decade-long fans of Supernatural and non-fans with transdimensional cracks in their dashboards, November 5 became A Day in 2020.

~

In the five years since we celebrated our first decade, you created 170,926,810 new blogs, made 40,798,681,685 new posts, and liked 75,280,353,933 posts, both old and new. You made each other cringe, celebrated the mundane and the extraordinary with your Fuck Yeah blogs, and shared many cursed things we are unable to utter here.

All this to say, come celebrate with us. Stay tuned for some historic reblogs throughout this month of February in the year of the orb, 2022.

Stay weird, Tumblr. You’re doin’ great.

We are launching Twitch embeds on web! Simply select the video post option on your dashboard, grab the embed link from the stream you want to share, and paste it into the “Add video from web” field. Click “Post,” and the stream will appear magically on…your post, duh. If you’re a Twitch streamer, you might boost your audience and even make a little pocket money broadcasting here on Tumblr. If you like watching Twitch but want to do more of that from the comfort of your Tumblr dash, well, now you can. So, giddy up: we hope your consoles are on and your headsets poised.

Need to know more? Check out this nifty Help Center article.

If you have any further questions, you can drop us a line on @wip or Support, and keep an eye out for more on @changes.