Betaworks is an American startup studio and seed stage venture capital company based in New York City that invests in network-focused media businesses.
51-444: Its hybrid investor/builder model has led to both investments in fast-growing startups like Tumblr , Airbnb , Groupon and Twitter as well as more exclusive stakes in internally built startups such as Chartbeat , Bitly and SocialFlow . Betaworks was founded in 2007 by John Borthwick. It has also recently come into the limelight a little more with The Intern podcast , hosted and produced by Allison Behringer. The podcast recounts
102-435: A heteronormative mainstream industry) seeking an outlet for their work, and those seeking a safe haven from "over-policed" platforms to share creative work with adult themes. Tumblr stated that it was using various algorithms to detect potential violations, in combination with manual reviews. Users quickly discovered a wide array of false positives . A large number of users scheduled protest actions on December 17. On
153-511: A British teenager, Tallulah Wilson, raised the issue of suicide and self-harm promotion on Tumblr as Wilson was reported to have maintained a self-harm blog on the site. A user on the site is reported to have sent Wilson an image of a noose accompanied by the message: "here is your new necklace, try it on." In response to the Wilson case, Maria Miller , the UK's minister for culture, media, and sport at
204-521: A Mobelux application in BlackBerry World . In June 2012, Tumblr released a new version of its iOS app, Tumblr 3.0, allowing support for Spotify integration, hi-res images and offline access. An app for Android is also available. A Windows Phone app was released on April 23, 2013. An app for Google Glass was released on May 16, 2013. Tumblr blogs have the option to allow users to submit questions, either as themselves or anonymously, to
255-543: A chain letter scam in May 2011 affected 130,000 users. On December 3, 2012, Tumblr was attacked by a cross-site scripting worm deployed by the internet troll group Gay Nigger Association of America . The message urged users to harm themselves and criticized blogging in general. In 2015, Tumblr faced criticism by users for changes to its reblog mechanisms. In July 2015, the system was modified so that users cannot remove or edit individual comments by other users when reblogging
306-466: A copyright infringement complaint filed on legal archive Lumen and without checking the veracity of the source, Google delisted the Project Brazen article from its search results. Tumblr later confirmed that it had removed several accounts and posts from its platform following the alleged abuse of the site by Srivastava. Tumblr has been forced to manage spam and security problems. For example,
357-410: A feature on Tumblr that allows users to re-post content taken from another blog onto their own blog with attribution. In addition to these copyright infringements, Tumblr has at times been weaponised by individuals seeking to raise DMCA notices against other sites. Former Wall Street Journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bradley Hope and his investigative publication Project Brazen published
408-414: A flat view, and user avatars were also added. The change was intended to improve the legibility of reblogs, especially on mobile platforms, and complements the inability to edit existing comments. Although some users had requested such a change to combat posts made illegible by extremely large numbers of comments on a reblogged post, the majority of users (even those who had requested such a change) criticized
459-469: A post; existing comments can only be removed all at once. Tumblr staff argued that the change was intended to combat "misattribution", though this move was met by criticism from 'ask blogs' and "RP blogs', which often shortened long chains of reblogs between users to improve readability. In September 2015, Tumblr changed how threads of comments on reblogged posts are displayed; rather than a nested view with indentations for each post, all reblogs are now shown in
510-566: A story on 10 October 2023 reporting that Indian businessman Gaurav Srivastava was fraudlently representing himself as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency ( the Gaurav Srivastava Fake Spy Scam ). Shortly after, a fake blog was created on blogging site Tumblr that republished the content of their story and backdated it to 8 October 2023, two days before their article came out. Following
561-946: A support office in Richmond, Virginia . As of June 1, 2017 , Tumblr had 411 employees. Tumblr (and Automattic) now has a mostly distributed workforce , with a small office in San Francisco. The company's logo is set in Bookman Old Style with some modifications. As of 2011 , Tumblr had received about $ 125 million of funding from investors. The company has raised funding from Union Square Ventures , Spark Capital , Martín Varsavsky , John Borthwick ( Betaworks ), Fred Seibert, Krum Capital, and Sequoia Capital (among other investors). In its first round of funding in October 2007, Tumblr raised $ 750,000 from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. In December 2008
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#1732798247709612-492: A user may add their comments in the tags, not changing the content or appearance of the original post in any way. Not all users choose to use tags this way, but those who do use tags for commentary may prefer it over adding a comment on the actual post. With Tumblr's 2009 acquisition of Tumblerette, an iOS application created by Jeff Rock and Garrett Ross, the service launched its official iPhone app. The site became available to BlackBerry smartphones on April 17, 2010, via
663-543: A young woman beginning her career in the world of technology. In 2016, Betaworks sold its Instapaper product to the social media scrapbooking site, Pinterest. Current: Former: This United States media company article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a financial services corporation of the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler")
714-433: Is a microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by American company Automattic . The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog . Development of Tumblr began in 2006 during a two-week gap between contracts at David Karp 's software consulting company, Davidville. Karp had been interested in tumblelogs (short-form blogs, hence
765-477: Is in the post (e.g. #art, #sky). These are important for the original poster to use, so their post will be indexed and searchable by others wishing to view that subject of content. Tags used as a form of communication are unique to Tumblr, and are typically more personal, expressing opinions, reactions, meta-commentary, background information, and more. Instead of adding onto the reblogged post (with their comments becoming an addition to each subsequent reblog from them)
816-549: Is not only permitted on Tumblr but actively encouraged." Wired cited multiple potential factors in the ban, including that the presence of adult content made the service unappealing to potential advertisers, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (a U.S. federal law which makes websites liable for knowingly assisting or facilitating illegal sex trafficking ), as well as heavy restrictions on adult content imposed by Apple for software offered on
867-491: Is scheduled to be removed on June 1, 2024 due to low usage. Tumblr has been noted for the socially progressive views of its users. In 2011, the service was most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblr's visitor base being under the age of 25. In April 2013, the website received more than 13 billion global page views. User activity, measured by the number of blog posts per quarter, peaked at over 100 million in early 2014 and declined in each of
918-515: The .blog gTLD, thus becoming a domain registrar. In 2017, Automattic announced that it would close its San Francisco office, which had served as an optional co-working space for its employees alongside similar spaces near Portland, Maine and in Cape Town, South Africa. In August 2019, Automattic closed a deal with Verizon Media to acquire Tumblr . Mullenweg stated that he saw Tumblr as an "on-ramp" for WordPress adoption. In September of
969-796: The iOS App Store (which similarly prompted several Reddit clients to heavily frustrate the ability for users to access forums on the site that contain adult content). In January 2022, Tumblr reached a settlement with New York City's Commission on Human Rights, which had claimed that the 2018 ban on adult content disproportionately affected LGBTQ+ users. The agreement required the company to review its algorithms, revise its appeals process and review closed cases, and train its human moderators on diversity and inclusion issues. In November 2022, Tumblr changed its rules to allow nudity, but not sexually explicit images. Tumblr's headquarters were at 770 Broadway in New York City . The company also maintains
1020-603: The WordPress trademark and control over bbPress and BuddyPress to the WordPress Foundation. Its remote working culture was the topic of a participative journalism project by Scott Berkun , resulting in the 2013 book The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work . On November 21, 2016, Automattic, via a subsidiary company (Knock Knock, WHOIS There) managed the launch and later development of
1071-546: The announcement, Tumblr's Android app was patched to remove the ability to disable Safe Mode. The change faced wide criticism among Tumblr's community; in particular, it has been argued that the service should have focused on other major issues (such as controlling hate speech or the number of porn-related spambots on the service), and that the service's adult community provided a platform for sex education , independent adult performers (especially those representing LGBT communities who feel that they are under-represented by
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#17327982477091122-402: The average ad purchase on Tumblr to be nearly six figures. Tumblr also allows premium theme templates to be sold for use by blogs. In July 2016, advertisements were implemented by default across all blogs. Users may opt-out, and the service stated that a revenue sharing program would be implemented at a later date. In February 2022, Tumblr launched an ad-free subscription option that removes
1173-422: The blog for a response. Tumblr also previously offered a "fan mail" function, allowing users to send messages to blogs that they followed. On November 10, 2015, Tumblr introduced an integrated instant messaging function, allowing users to chat with other Tumblr users. The feature was rolled out in a "viral" manner; it was initially made available to a group of 1,500 users, and other users could receive access to
1224-604: The company raised $ 4.5 million in Series B funding and a further $ 5 million in April 2010. In December 2010, Tumblr raised $ 30 million in Series D funding. The company had an $ 800 million valuation in August 2011. In September 2011, the company raised $ 85 million in a round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners . In an interview with Nicole Lapin of Bloomberg West on September 7, 2012, David Karp said
1275-457: The company. The site, along with the rest of the Oath division (renamed Verizon Media Group in 2019), continued to struggle under Verizon. In March 2019, SimilarWeb estimated Tumblr had lost 30% of its user traffic since December 2018, when the site had introduced a stricter content policy with heavier restrictions on adult content (which had been a notable draw to the service). In May 2019, it
1326-857: The content policy decisions made during Verizon ownership. In November 2022, Mullenweg stated that Tumblr will add support for the decentralized social networking protocol ActivityPub . In November 2023, most of Tumblr's product development and marketing teams were transferred to other groups within Automattic. Mullenweg stated that focus would shift to core functionality and streamlining existing features. In February 2024, Automattic announced that it would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI . Tumblr users are opted-in by default, with an option to opt out. In August 2024, Automattic announced that it would migrate Tumblr's backend to an architecture derived from WordPress, in order to ease development and code sharing between
1377-497: The day the ban took effect, Tumblr issued a new post clarifying the new policy, showcasing examples of adult images still allowed on the service, and stating that it "fully recognized" its "special obligation" to serving its LGBT userbase, and that "LGBTQ+ conversations, exploration of sexuality and gender, efforts to document the lives and challenges of those in the sex worker industry, and posts with pictures, videos, and GIFs of gender reassignment surgery are all examples of content that
1428-513: The deal was finalized on June 20, 2013. Advertising sales goals were not met and in 2016 Yahoo wrote down $ 712 million of Tumblr's value. Verizon Communications acquired Yahoo in June 2017, and placed Yahoo and Tumblr under its Oath subsidiary. Karp announced in November 2017 that he would be leaving Tumblr by the end of the year. Jeff D'Onofrio, Tumblr's president and COO, took over leading
1479-733: The end of September 2024, Automattic was involved in a controversy with WP Engine , in which Automattic claimed WP Engine used the WordPress trademark in a way that confused consumers. One of the main claims made is that WP Engine does not pay trademark royalties to the WordPress Foundation . Over 8 percent of Automattic's staff resigned after CEO Matt Mullenweg offered $ 30,000 or six months' salary as severance to those who disagreed with his stance. The next month, Mullenweg made another offer, this time of nine months' salary. Some notable Automattic brands and products include: As of October 2024 , Automattic's board consisted of
1530-458: The following July. In November 2019, Tumblr introduced "group chats"— ephemeral chat rooms surfaced via searches, designed to allow users to share content in real-time with users who share their interests. Posts would disappear after 24 hours and could not be edited. The group chat function was discontinued on September 22, 2021. On July 21, 2021, Tumblr launched Post+ for some beta users, allowing bloggers to monetize their content. Post+
1581-605: The marketing from microblogs for $ 5 per month, or $ 40 per year. During an AMA on 11 July 2023, the CEO said that Tumblr was financially in the red, losing $ 30 million a year. Tumblr has received criticism for copyright violations by participating bloggers; however, Tumblr accepts Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notices . Tumblr's visual appeal has made it ideal for photoblogs that often include copyrighted works from others that are re-published without payment. Tumblr users can post unoriginal content by "Reblogging",
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1632-519: The messaging system if they were sent a message by any user that had received access to the system itself. The messaging platform replaces the fan mail system, which was deprecated. The ability to send posts to others via the Dashboard was added the following month. In May 2012, Tumblr launched Storyboard, a blog managed by an in-house editorial team which features stories and videos about noteworthy blogs and users on Tumblr. In April 2013, Storyboard
1683-709: The name Tumblr) for some time and was waiting for one of the established blogging platforms to introduce their own tumblelogging platform. As none had done so after a year of waiting, Karp and developer Marco Arment began working on their own platform. Tumblr was launched in February 2007, and within two weeks had gained 75,000 users. Arment left the company in September 2010 to work on Instapaper . In June 2012, Tumblr featured its first major brand advertising campaign in collaboration with Adidas , who launched an official soccer Tumblr blog and bought ad placements on
1734-500: The new format. The Verge was also critical of the changes, noting that it was cleaner, but made the site lose its "nostalgic charm". While Tumblr's userbase has generally been received as accommodating people from a wide range of ideologies and identities, a common point of criticism is that attitudes from users on the site stifle discussion and discourse. In 2015, members of the Steven Universe fandom drove an artist to
1785-446: The next three years, to approximately 30 million by October 2018. As of May 2019 , Tumblr hosted over 465 million blogs and more than 172 billion posts in total with over 21 million posts created on the site each day. According to then-CEO Jeff D’Onofrio, members of Generation Z made up 48% of active and 61% of new users, reflecting a resurgence in activity on the platform. Multiple researchers looking into Tumblr have found that
1836-427: The operator of blog service WordPress.com and corporate backer of the open source blog software of the same name . The sale was for an undisclosed amount, but Axios reported that the sale price was less than $ 3 million, less than 0.3% of Yahoo's original purchase price. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg stated that the site will operate as a complementary service to WordPress.com, and that there were no plans to reverse
1887-407: The platforms. The company stated that this migration would not impact the service's user experience and content, and that users "won't even notice a difference from the outside". The tagging system on the website operates on a hybrid tagging system, involving both self-tagging (user write their own tags on their posts) and an auto-manual function (the website will recommend popular tags and ones that
1938-525: The point of attempting suicide over their artwork, in which they drew characters thin that are typically seen as being 'fat' in the show. In 2018, Kotaku reporter Gita Jackson described the site as a 'joyless black hole', citing how the website's design and functionality led to 'fandoms spinning out of control', as well as an environment that inhibited discussion and discourse. In February 2012, Tumblr banned blogs that promote or advocate suicide, self-harm and eating disorders ( pro-ana ). The suicide of
1989-544: The same year, Automattic announced a Series D funding round of $ 300 million from Salesforce , increasing its valuation to US$ 3 billion. Ending in February 2021, Automattic brought in US$ 288 million from a primary funding round. Subsequently, the company participated in a stock buyback, with the company valued at US$ 7.5 billion. In February 2024, it was reported that the company would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI . Towards
2040-462: The service. Exceptions are provided for illustrations or art that depict nudity, nudity related to "political or newsworthy speech", and depictions of "female-presenting" nipples in relation to medical events such as childbirth , breastfeeding , mastectomy and gender reassignment surgery . The rules do not apply to text content. All posts in violation of the policy are hidden from public view, and repeat offenders may be reprimanded. Shortly prior to
2091-414: The site was monetized by advertising. Their first advertising launch started in May 2012 after 16 experimental campaigns. Tumblr made $ 13 million in revenue in 2012 and hoped to make $ 100 million in 2013. Tumblr reportedly spent $ 25 million to fund operations in 2012. In 2013, Tumblr began allowing companies to pay to promote their own posts to a larger audience. Tumblr Head of Sales, Lee Brown, has quoted
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2142-517: The site. In July 2013, Tumblr began to filter content in adult-tagged blogs from appearing in search results and tagged displays unless the user was logged in. In February 2018, Safe Mode (which filters "sensitive" content and blogs) became enabled by default for all users on an opt-out basis. On December 3, 2018, Tumblr announced that effective December 17, all images and videos depicting sex acts, and real-life images and videos depicting human genitalia or "female-presenting" nipples, would be banned from
2193-445: The time, said that social media sites like Tumblr needed to remove "toxic" self-harm content. Automattic Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The company's name is a play on founder Matt Mullenweg 's first name and
2244-431: The user dashboard. This launch came only two months after Tumblr announced it would be moving towards paid advertising on its site. On May 20, 2013, it was announced that Yahoo and Tumblr had reached an agreement for Yahoo! Inc. to acquire Tumblr for $ 1.1 billion in cash. Many of Tumblr's users were unhappy with the news, causing some to start a petition, achieving nearly 170,000 signatures. David Karp remained CEO and
2295-436: The user has used before.) Only the first 20 tags added to any post will be indexed by the site. The tags are prefaced by a hashtag and separated by commas, and spaces and special characters are allowed, but only up to 140 characters total per tag. There are two main types used by Tumblr users: descriptive tagging, and opinion or commentary tagging. Descriptive tags are usually introduced by the original poster, and describe what
2346-540: The website acceptable and safe. At the time of its acquisition by Yahoo, Tumblr was described by technology journalists as having a sizable amount of pornographic content . An analysis conducted by news and technology site TechCrunch on May 20, 2013, showed that over 22% of all traffic in and out of Tumblr was classified as pornography. In addition, a reported 16.45% of blogs on Tumblr exclusively contained pornographic material. Following July 2013 and its acquisition by Yahoo, Tumblr progressively restricted adult content on
2397-463: The website is often used as for community-building and a place to explore identity formation and gender expression for LGBT groups. Prior to the 2018 adult content ban, transgender users posted their personal gender transitioning experiences, including photos of post gender-confirming surgery and the healing process. Many users felt that the ability to be anonymous, or cultivate the identity they were transitioning to, made posting personal information to
2448-519: The word "automatic". On January 11, 2006, it was announced that Toni Schneider would be leaving Yahoo! to become CEO of Automattic. He was previously CEO of Oddpost before it was acquired by Yahoo! , where he had continued as a senior executive. In April 2006, Automattic's Regulation D filing showed it had raised approximately $ 1.1 million in funding, which Mullenweg addressed in his blog. Investors were Polaris Ventures , True Ventures, and Radar Partners. On September 9, 2010, Automattic gave
2499-507: Was removed in January 2024 due to low usage. At the end of 2022, Tumblr announced a livestreaming service called Tumblr Live. Tumblr Live was an adapted version of The Meet Group 's product Livebox. In 2024, Tumblr announced that they would be discontinuing Tumblr Live as of January 24, with options for users to migrate to MeetMe . A feature that allowed users to tip small amounts of money to other users, introduced in February 2022,
2550-445: Was reported that Verizon was considering selling the site due to its continued struggles since the purchase (as it had done with another Yahoo property, Flickr , via its sale to SmugMug ). Following this news, Pornhub 's vice president publicly expressed interest in purchasing Tumblr, with a promise to reinstate the previous adult content policies. On August 12, 2019, Verizon Media announced that it would sell Tumblr to Automattic ,
2601-406: Was shut down. In March 2018, Tumblr began to syndicate original video content from Verizon-owned video network go90 , as part of an ongoing integration of Oath properties, and reported plans to wind down go90 in favor of using Oath properties to distribute its content instead. This made the respective content available internationally, since go90 is a U.S.-only service. Go90 shut down at the end of
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