Tumblr builds a TikTok inspired feed to grow its user base

Tumblr could be the latest platform to borrow from TikTok’s playbook. According to information published on the Tumblr staff blog, the company is planning a major revamp of its platform that will bring algorithmic recommendations to users’ feeds.

The memo is specific about the reasons for the upcoming changes and Tumblr’s current shortcomings. “The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use,” the company writes. “It’s hard to be a 15-year-old brand because the brand carries the burden of a person’s preconceived notions about Tumblr.”

Although Tumblr doesn’t provide precise details about the new features, it does provide some big hints about what’s to come. The company says that one of its primary goals will be to “deliver great content every time you open the app” and describes its current “Following” feed as “outdated”.

To address this, the Automattic-owned platform says it is working to “improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds” and “making it easier for users to understand the vibrant community on Tumblr.” Where are you?” The company also notes that building out more creator-friendly features, including improvements to the way replies and reblogs work, will also be key to attracting new users.

The company writes, “Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of quitting or becoming discouraged when sharing creations without getting engagement or feedback.” “The lack of feedback stems from the old decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Follows”), creating a cycle where popular blogs gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. Let’s continue.”

Overall, the changes Tumblr is describing are a lot like those of TikTok (or even Instagram): algorithmic recommendations in users’ primary feeds, creator-friendly features that encourage sharing, More streamlined comment and conversation tools. As a strategy, this may seem all too straightforward in 2023, when users expect these kinds of features from social platforms. But given that Tumblr’s core interface hasn’t changed that much in its decade and a half of existence, the new direction could lead to significant changes in the overall dynamics of the platform.

The upcoming redesign isn’t the only way Automattic has tried to breathe new life into the platform it acquired, the company has also experimented with subscriptions and other payment features, introducing Post+, although long-time users may not be able to use the feature. were against. More recently, shortly after the failed rollout of Twitter’s new paid verification by Elon Musk the company began selling “completely useless” messages to users.