You can attribute part of the growth of the web to developers creating software and platforms that are freely accessible. Of course, writing code and hosting billions of users’ content isn’t free. Still, web firms figured they could monetize users by selling data and serving them ads.
At its peak, microblogging platform Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo! For $1.1 billion, a long way from its initial $3 million valuation. Tumblr’s anonymity and aversion to selling advertising attracted a large user base of artists, designers, and other creatives, including Taylor Swift. To make Tumblr profitable, Yahoo! tried implementing changes to make the platform more advertiser-friendly, like introducing filters that would remove explicit content, but the effort was ultimately in vain. Tumblr was sold to Verizon in 2017, then was acquired by software developer Automattic for the original $3 million valuation in 2019.
Automattic, which also owns the popular Content Management System (CMS) and WordPress, has yet to give up on Tumblr. However, its latest strategy for monetization might prove just as unpopular with users as the banning of porn and the introduction of ads.
