Tumblr was a great platform for people to put their content, such as pictures, GIFs, and blog posts.
However, Tumblr is a social media platform that saw a rapid decline in users.
Many often wonder what happened to Tumblr and whether or not it is a good platform to use.
Well, in this article we are going to look at whether people still use Tumblr so you can decide whether this would be a good platform for you to utilize.
We are also going to walk you through what happened to Tumblr, so you have all of the information you need to understand why people might not use Tumblr anymore.
What Is Tumblr?
Tumblr is a social media platform that essentially lets you share anything. Tumblr allows you to share photos, videos, text, quotes, music, and links from whatever device you are using.
The easiest way to explain Tumblr is that it is a cross between social media platforms such as Facebook, where you connect with others, and your own website or blog.
During its peak, Tumblr was mainly used as a platform for people to post content that was short and snappy.
It was not usually used as a place to write longer blogs, although there were those that used it for that reason.
At the time, Tumblr was primarily used by teenagers.
Tumblr allowed them to completely customize their page or dashboard, which was unique compared to the other major social media platforms at the time.
Tumblr had a feature called the dashboard which users could scroll through for hours without it having an end. This is similar to features such as the ‘For You’ page on TikTok.
Those that were successful on Tumblr had the option to remain anonymous. There were many Tumblr accounts where the owner stayed completely anonymous but still had a huge following.
This is unlike what social media looks like now as those that become influencers are often not anonymous.
What Happened To Tumblr?
So what exactly happened to Tumblr? One minute it was one of the most used social media platforms, then the next it wasn’t.
Stuck In The Past
One of the main reasons as to why the buzz around Tumblr slowly faded was because it was stuck in the past.
As our smartphones became better, we gradually started to prefer videos. In this day and age, the best social media platforms have short videos that tell us how to do something, videos that make us laugh, or even videos about life that we can relate to.
There is a certain sense of satisfaction we get from watching a video that cannot be replicated by reading a blog post.
For the time, Tumblr had great posts with many jokes on them. These were great but then video clips became more popular, especially with the platform Vine around.
Though there might have been some videos on Tumblr and GIFs, these were not common.
So, people moved to use other social platforms that did allow for videos to be posted.
Tumblr did eventually allow for videos to be uploaded, but by this point, Tumblr was not as popular as it used to be.
Although Tumblr had videos, the format of the videos on Tumblr was not unique and people didn’t want to sit and watch a video for 10 minutes when they were on the dashboard.
They would have been using YouTube if that was what they wanted.
As mentioned before, those who had successful blog pages on Tumblr were able to stay anonymous.
Without watching videos of the people behind the posts, it was hard for people to connect to the person running the successful Tumblr account.
The Ban On Adult Content
Tumblr became a platform that really changed in December 2021 when Tumblr announced that there would be a ban on all adult content.
This ban occurred after the app was removed from the Apple App store due to the presence of child pornography on Tumblr.
The ban on adult content meant that some users began to close down their Tumblr accounts.
NSFW content consumers on Tumblr made up more than a quarter of the users of this platform.
Tumblr has taken measures to ensure that the issue with child pornography does not occur but the measures created problems for those who create art that involves nudity.
Whilst Tumblr has attempted to fix these problems, users have been hard to convince.
Do People Still Use Tumblr?
Whilst Tumblr has declined in popularity, there are still some users of the social media platform. In fact, a spokesperson for Tumblr has stated that around 48% of its users are Gen Z.
Those that still use Tumblr to this day do so for many reasons as it still allows users to share content.
Tumblr users go on Tumblr for social networking purposes. Tumblr still allows individuals to connect with others through the platform and share posts and messages.
Other users continue to use Tumblr as a search engine. Younger individuals who use Tumblr use it as a search engine to find creative and unique posts.
Tumblr has a large range of media that is based on memes, music, art, and pop culture.
Lastly, another popular use of Tumblr is for blogging or micro-blogging.
This is what Tumblr identified as at the beginning of its creation and it can still be used as a place for users to write and share their blogs.
Final Thoughts
Tumblr has an extensive history, with it being very popular in the early 2010s, only for the number of users to rapidly decline by the end of the decade.
Regardless of all of the scandals and changes that have occurred, Tumblr is still a social media platform that people use.
However, there are not nearly as many users as there once were and it is not the most popular social media platform anymore.
We hope this guide has helped you understand all about whether people still use Tumblr.
Hi, my name is Justin Shaw, I started my career with a Masters in Computer Science but found writing to be my forte'.
I'm now the Principal Tech writer for GshiftLabs.com as well as a few other well known publications. I help make the complex world of Tech-Jargon easy to understand.
