Tumblr could possibly be the most recent platform to borrow from TikTok’s playbook. The corporate is planning a serious revamp of its platform that may deliver algorithmic suggestions to customers’ feeds, in line with printed on the Tumblr Workers weblog.
The memo is notably frank concerning the causes for the upcoming modifications and what it describes as Tumblr’s present shortcomings. “The underlying downside is that Tumblr isn’t straightforward to make use of,” the corporate writes. “Being a 15-year-old model is hard as a result of the model carries the luggage of an individual’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr.”
Whereas Tumblr doesn’t present actual particulars about new options, it affords some fairly huge hints about what’s to return. The corporate says that one in all its main targets can be to “ship nice content material every time the app is opened” and refers to its present “following” feed as “outdated.”
To deal with this, the Automattic-owned platform says it’s working to “enhance our algorithmic rating capabilities throughout all feeds” and “make it simpler for customers to know the place the colourful communities on Tumblr are.” The corporate additionally notes that constructing extra creator-friendly options, together with enhancements to the best way replies and reblogs work, will even be key to attracting new customers.
“Being a brand new creator on Tumblr might be intimidating, with a excessive chance of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations with out receiving engagement or suggestions,” the corporate writes. “The dearth of suggestions stems from the outdated resolution to solely present content material from adopted blogs on the principle dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle the place in style blogs proceed to achieve extra visibility on the expense of serving to new creators.”
Taken collectively, the modifications Tumblr is describing sound rather a lot like TikTok (and even Instagram): algorithmic suggestions in customers’ main feeds, creator-friendly options that encourage sharing, and extra streamlined commenting and dialog instruments. As a method, that every one might sound fairly easy in 2023, when customers more and more count on these sorts of options from social platforms anyway. However contemplating Tumblr’s core interface hasn’t modified that a lot in its decade and a half of existence, the brand new route might deliver vital modifications to the general dynamics of the platform.
The approaching redesign isn’t the one means Computerized has tried to breathe new life into the platform it acquired The corporate has additionally experimented with subscriptions and different paid options, introducing Put up+ , although there was towards the characteristic from longtime customers. Extra not too long ago, the corporate started promoting “fully ineffective” to customers quickly after Elon Musk’s botched rollout of Twitter’s new paid verification.