The IT Nerd

This one is a bit of a head scratcher for me. On one hand, I can see why Yahoo would drop big bucks to buy the blogging service known as Tumblr. First they get all of those users (as Tumblr approaches Facebook and Twitter in terms of numbers of users) which makes Yahoo somewhat relevant again. Also Yahoo gets a new vehicle to push ads on. Which is why all those users (about 300 million of them eyeball the site every month) are important. Finally, posting via a mobile device such as a smartphone is easy. And Yahoo needs some sort of mobile strategy. Thus, this purchase fits in with that.

On the other hand, Tumblr has a bit of an indie feel to it prior to Yahoo buying it. You can do pretty much whatever you want on the service including post porn as long as it’s not illegal. Just the mere thought of a big corporate entity such as Yahoo purchasing the service might send users running to the exits. Also it’s worth considering that all that porn on Tumblr is a lightning rod that may zap Yahoo. If they leave it there (because despite how some might feel, porn makes money), there’s likely something that will generate negative press for Yahoo at some point down the road. Yank it all, and users will flee. So what does Yahoo do with all that porn? Hmmm…. That’s a good question.

So to answer your question, I don’t know what to think. It’s not a purchase I would have made. But I guess that’s why Melissa Mayer is CEO of Yahoo and I’m not. Perhaps she has a grand plan that I don’t see?

Check in next year and I think we’ll have our answer.

This entry was posted on May 21, 2013 at 7:29 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Tumblr, Yahoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.