380
submitted 10 months ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/technology@lemmy.world

It's not quite the end of Tumblr, but when management is supposedly sending memos with the Lord Tennyson quote about having "loved and lost," it doesn't look like there's much of a future.

Internet statesman and Waxy.org proprietor Andy Baio posted what is "apparently an internal Automattic memo making the rounds on Tumblr" to Threads. The memo, written to employees at WordPress.com parent company Automattic, which bought Tumblr from Verizon's media arm in 2019, is titled or subtitled "You win or you learn." The posted memo states that a majority of the 139 employees working on product and marketing at Tumblr (in a team apparently named "Bumblr") will "switch to other divisions." Those working in "Happiness" (Automattic's customer support and service division) and "T&S" (trust and safety) would remain.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] dragontamer@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Verizon banned porn. The new owners have turned more of a blind eye to it. I know, hard to keep up with all the different owners and their individual policies.

Its different corporate masters passing Tumblr around. At least try to see how different owners have different policies. I think we all knew that Verizon was utter crap as an owner and did untold damage to the brand. But I actually was rooting for Tumblr to make a comeback this time.

Alas, Automattic couldn't save Tumblr after all the damage to its reputation.

[-] wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one 8 points 10 months ago

They didnt really try to.

A lot of the new money making features were half assed, and got abandoned pretty quickly after release. Lots of users who wanted to support them have complained that they seem to not want the money.

[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They’ve also added features no one wants. For example, the recent “Tumblr Live” nonsense, which is basically Twitch meets Shorts. It’s at the top of your feed and you can’t permanently turn it off - you can turn it off for what was a week, then a month. They wasted money and time to get that feature going, one that you know cost a lot because hosting video isn’t cheap, when NO ONE goes to tumblr to look at random cam girls.

[-] slaacaa@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Lol, never used Tumblr, but that sounds terrible. I hate how they want to change all social media to the exact same thing, instead or leaving us with different choices.

[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

Yeah, same. It’s like they think unique identities is bad.

[-] slaacaa@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It’s about aiming for the lowest common denominator to maximize user number and engagement. Autoplaying short vids in a feed that you didn’t curate - all things optimized to trick your monkey brain for one more scroll or one more click. Works on everybody from children to elderly.

[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Except in Tumblr’s case, no one goes to tumblr to watch videos on the first place, and the way they have it set up is awful. It’s at the top of your feed, and you have to tap any of them to watch them in anything larger than a tiny square.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
380 points (99.0% liked)

Technology

57932 readers
2824 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS