Tumblr’s First Year Without Porn

SYNOPSIS

This article by Kaitlyn Tiffany for The Atlantic presents a year in review after Tumblr’s landmark removal of porn from its site last December. In the time since, site viewership has dropped immensely, and unique visitors are in stark contrast to former years. The stats come as overall social media censorship is gaining traction in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA. It seems that despite the removal of porn, the site has maintained its figurehead as a sub culture community builder. But will it be enough to keep the site afloat?

“My personal opinion about this whole story is that the numbers were very clear,” Luca Aiello, one of the Tumblr’s researchers, recently stated “People were very engaged with that type of content, and banning it would determine the fall of the community.”

TAKEAWAYS

‘Tumblr is Still Tumblr”-Even with the banning of porn and the subsequent traffic decline, Tumblr maintains a healthy meme and fandom culture

Artists are Moving Away-Despite the above, artists, erotic and otherwise, are moving away from the site en masse.

Diversity to Survive-Experts are predicting that with censorship in play, Tumblr will have to diversify its content to survive.

Find the full piece here