What's the Deal with Tumblr?

[Jim Briggs]

Every once in awhile I find myself the last one to discover some new fad or fashion. I checked out Tumblr over a long time ago and didn't get the appeal. Clearly I was missing something. Now I'm taking a close look at it as a cultural and business phenomenon.

What do you think? Do you use Tumblr? For business or pleasure?

What's the dealio?

[vangogh]

I don't use it myself, but I think the idea for why it's popular is they make it easy to publish content that's more than you'd post on Twitter, but less than you might post on WordPress. I think they make it easy to upload and publish images and also posts that feature a quick link and comment. There's also a social network built around it so it's easy to connect with other people on Tumblr and read what they post and have them read what you post.

It'll be interesting to see what if anything changes now that it's been sold to Yahoo.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've checked it out. At first I didn't see the appeal, but the more I found myself on a Tumbler page via someone sharing a link or something, the more I started to kind of "get it".
It's easy to use. It's stylish. It's not complicated with stuff that you don't need if all you want to do is express yourself, and share thoughs, images, video and so on.

I personally don't have a use to do anything with it, but to be honest, this is the type of platform that Windows Live, Yahoo Groups, and Blogger should have done. So I can see why Yahoo purchased it.

[Jim Briggs]

Features and benefits, mostly summarizing Vangogh and Harold:

Express yourself and be creative
Share your expressions (reblog)
It is a social network where the value is in the people
More than twitter; less than a blog
Simple in concept
Easy to use
Share and express in rich ways: images, videos, music, colorful themes
(Let me know if I need to add anything)

In hindsight these kinds of successes make sense but imagining it happening is a lot harder.

I'd be curious to know how important the submit button is where you can submit to other people's blog. Are small business people submitting directly to related Tumblr blogs? My biggest success getting the word about about something I created was one submit button (with a kindly write-up) on one very popular blog directly related my product. One submit button launched a product. (I don't imagine it will be that easy the next time around.)

The other thing I think about is "Who creates something like this?" David Karp was his own customer. He was creating something that he (and others) would use. That can be a big advantage.

Just watched this interview: (Founder Stories) Why David Karp Started Tumblr: Blogs Don't Work For Most People | TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/founder-stories-why-david-karp-started-tumblr-blogs-dont-work-for-most-people/)

Below is what I extracted and interpreted into a business model.

Problem. David Karp saw that there were 170 million blogs, but only 12 million active blogs (non-writer types want to blog but its hard for them).

Existing solutions.


WordPress and the other blogging tools were publishing tools that catered more to people who want to take time to write and publish.
Facebook. Can't be very creative in sharing and timeline.
Twitter. A different kind of tool.
YouTube. One type of sharing:video
Customer segments. (now) practically everyone it seems.


Initially avant-garde bloggers.
Then people who wanted to blog/share;
Then business bloggers?
Designers
Value proposition. Express yourself and represent your creative identity.

Features: Simple and easy to post (and use) because of the design. Cool and avant-garde themes.

(challenge: through features and design, convince people to blog who would be too frustrated with other platforms, paraphrase from David Cole, designer at Quora)

Marketing: Win over early adopters who are blogging using avant-garde themes. They love it. Their readers will adopt because readers want to "blog" too.

Revenue model. Strategy: revenue through community-enhancing features. Freemium business model.


Stream 1: Theme marketplace. Customers create and make money; Tumblr takes a cut. Designers make money. (two-side market).
Stream 2: Bloggers (business bloggers?) who need to promote. Promotion fee for being listed in Tumblr's directory.
Future stream: Pay to promote posts.
This business model appears strong in multiple ways. There was a real problem; there weren't good solutions. It looks like they will make money from multiple customer segments.

The other thing that really strikes me is the importance of design. Would this product have been successful if they just implemented the features? It takes me the same number of clicks to publish a post with an image on blogger.com, but the experience on Tumblr "feels" simpler and easier. (Also, blogger.com might not have been so easy when Tumblr launched). I find this fascinating: that a value proposition cannot always be captured by a list of features. What do others think about this?

Also interesting is the initial announcement of Tumblr in this blog post: http://davidville.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/tumblr/ where they make the case for Tumblr and you can see some excitement in the comments.

[patrickprecisione]

Haven't really spent a great deal of time with Tumblr. So essentially it's a microblogging site? My fear is that, like my recent Reddit addiction, once I start investigating it further I'll be hooked.

[Jim Briggs]

Patrick,

You're technically correct. Tumblr is a microblogging site, but Wikipedia defines Twitter as microblogging too, and Twitter and Tumblr are significantly different. So I'm not sure how useful the term is. I almost want to say that Tumblr defines microblogging rather than vice versa. I'm looking at Tumblr as an outsider. I just signed up to get a better feel for it. Tumblr is also about creative expression of your identity (apparently) in the sense that they are encouraging you to post videos, music and reblog (like retweet) stuff you like.

[vangogh]

I place Tumblr somewhere between Twitter and something like WordPress. I don't know that I'd define Tumblr as a microblog myself, but I guess it's considered to be based on who you asked.

It's hard for me to answer some of your specific questions, since I don't have a Tumblr account and don't know the site enough to know how it works or why people do certain things. I have read some things about David Karp. I happen to follow Marco Arment's blog and listen to his podcasts. He developed the site under David's direction and went on to develop Instapaper after leaving Tumblr. He's always said great things about David.

Building a business to solve a problem you have and designing a website with yourself in mind as a user can be a great approach. Naturally there have to be enough other people out there who are like you enough to need to solve the same problems or use a website similar to how you do. Unless you're building something around an obscure need or interest of yours, it's like there will be enough people like you to become a market. In David's case he noticed most people with blogs weren't actually blogging and came to the conclusion it was because blogging was too hard for most people. I think that was a pretty good assessment, which is in part why Tumblr has been successful. The ability to share and reblog and connect with others are also part of the success.

I prefer writing longer form content so Tumblr wasn't the site for me. Plus since I know how to work with WordPress it's fairly easy for me to create the same kind of content on Tumblr that's on WordPress. I never saw the appeal of Tumblr for myself, but I do get why others would choose the platform.

[Jim Briggs]

Building a business to solve a problem you have and designing a website with yourself in mind as a user can be a great approach. Naturally there have to be enough other people out there who are like you enough to need to solve the same problems or use a website similar to how you do. Unless you're building something around an obscure need or interest of yours, it's like there will be enough people like you to become a market.

Agreed. I'm one for two in that area. The first thing I built was based on my expertise and I was in sync with other people's need. I sat down and wrote code for six months and then went into a big corp and said, "Hey I have this cool app." And they said, "We'll take it." Well, I got kind of lucky and learned the wrong lesson. Next time around, I did the same thing, thousands of people all over creation signed up and tried it out for a minute but it was a dud. I was saying all right words appealing to a real need, but the solution was rejected.

This time around, so I don't embarrass myself, I've been doing a protracted private beta where I signup people in small batches that correspond with iterations of the product.

So I agree, solving a need you have is powerful, but it's no guarantee. You have to also know what's good for yourself. My successful app was an online testing system which I knew a lot about because a teacher. My failed app was a decision engine which I knew a lot about as well, but it didn't appeal to people who I thought were like me.

[vangogh]

I'm the same way. By definition I can't really be a client for my main web design business, though I do try to imagine my client is someone like me with similar skills in a different industry. This forum though is modeled entirely on what I want a forum to be. After being a member of a few and seeing far too much noise I made a conscious effort to keep out as much noise as possible here. Similar with my blog I create the kind of content I want to find on other sites.

None of that works if there aren't enough other people like you wanting the same things, but assuming there are enough people wanting similar things you have a large enough market to build a business.

[Jim Briggs]

Steven,

I see people like yourself as pragmatic business artists. On the one hand, you have customers that have specific needs you have to meet. On the other hand, you draw on your knowledge of "the art" which you're continually expanding. But you also draw on your sensibilities and creativity. (True in a lot of trades--even us programmers.) So success requires a mix of allegiance to the customer, the field, and the muse.

In some cases, allegiance to the Muse is more absolute. I recently read a biography of Bruce Springsteen. In his early days, he was, like many musicians who start out, playing various gigs in and around New Jersey. Eventually he settled into a band that found a niche and soon he had a real business, was playing out of state, and was building a reputation. Well, one day, he just decided it was the wrong music--even though the fans loved the band; even though his band members had finally just arrived at having something that would make them steady money. The Muse said forget the success; there's something bigger.

Springsteen just completely dropped the band and the music because the music wasn't original enough for him. It sounded like everyone else. He went through a period of deeper experimentalism and came out the other end as The Boss.

I think a lot about that story.

[vangogh]

I like that definition. :) I do try to be pragmatic and as you can tell from my username I have a thing for art. Your analysis is spot on too. I do think a lot of what we all do requires a balance. It's one reason I've never cared for the phrase "the customer is always right." I understand where it comes from, but it completely ignores the other players.

Interesting you mention Bruce Springsteen. I'm familiar with his story and have several cases of bootlegged live shows (on cassette sadly). He's not the only one. Lots of musicians and creative people in general had to do it their way. I think about it too, because I do tend to follow my muse. I don't let him lead me over a cliff or anything, but I do try to follow a general path he shows me.

[Cannon]

i heard about it a lot but still have not use it yet. for now FB , twitter and LinkedIn is enough for me and for blogging i have blogspot. I am just limited to those

[dianecoleen]

I think I would just go to tumblr if I have some sort of images to post instead of sharing it to Facebook. I use tumblr for pleasure and collecting pieces of image that is of my interest. I don't think it's a great platform for businesses too.

[vangogh]

I don't think it's a great platform for businesses too.

It might be better than you think. A number of blogs I follow that are part of or an extension of a business are on Tumblr. I usually think of Tumblr as shorter form blog content. Longer than a tweet or Facebook post, but not quite as long as a typical blog post might be.

[LGCG]

I've mostly seen Tumblr used by comedians and TV shows. Not so much for businesses. I'm sure there's a way for it to be used for business, but I don't know enough about it to know how to do that.

[vangogh]

I don't know if businesses in general use it, but I know plenty of designers have Tumblr accounts that I'm subscribed to. I don't see any reason why a business couldn't make use of it. Just because other businesses aren't there doesn't mean it can't work. If anything it means you'd have more opportunity to stand out. I don't think you could put up a blog of sales material, but if you're creative enough there's no reason why you couldn't come up with something. The worst case scenario is you wouldn't benefit from the being part of Tumblr's network in the sense of appealing to other users of Tumblr, but if that happens you'd still have content that shows up in search engines and you could always take the content and move it to your own blog at a later time.