Tumblr has become one of the most popular micro blogging/social networking sites since its launch in early 2007. It first began with the creator, David Karp showing interest in Tumblelogging, which are a type of short form blog such as a simple picture or a few words – similar to Twitter. The service first launched in early 2007 and within a few weeks the service gained almost 100,000 users.
In a few words, Tumblr has become a place for people to share thoughts, photos, videos, GIFs, Memes, and a whole host of other media for others to re-post onto their own blogs by ‘reblogging’ the post from someone elses blog, liking the post, and if they choose, following the person who posted the item. Though it’s primarily a blogging service, it has also become a thriving social network.
Once a user follows another person, their posts then show up in the users “Dashboard” and it’s from here where people can reblog, like, and share content for others to see on their own Dashboards.
In the past few years, the transition from a web based blogging service to include a more on the go mobile service has become apparent. Since the launch of both the Android and iOS apps, more and more users have been using the service. The app acts just as the web version with users being able to view their Dashboard, write and create posts, as well as reblogging and liking posts from others.
The entire service is free to use and is completely ad free. However, recently, Tumblr introduced ads into their mobile apps. Announced on April 22, Tumblr said that it’s now serving ads in both the Android and iOS apps. These ads aren’t the usual banner ads you’ve come to know and love, they are in fact native to the app in which they appear just like any other item on the users dashboard. The only way to tell whether it’s an advert or not is with the animated dollar sign located in the top right corner of the post.
The move to include mobile ads within the app is to take advantage of the rapidly growing mobile advertising market, something which is quickly becoming a multi-billion dollar market in the United States alone.
Thankfully for those that use Tumblr on a regular basis won’t be put off by the adverts thanks to the way they blend in amongst other posts. It’ll be interesting to see how this form of advertising develops.
Aaron Richardson is a 24-year-old tech nerd, musician, and aspiring tech writer.