![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Another day, another fandom platform buyout
So word is that Yahoo! has made an agreement to purchase Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Yes, that's billion, with a B. I've heard rumors that David Karp will stay on as CEO, that Tumblr will be allowed to largely continue operating as an independent entity, that Yahoo will try to entice Tumblr users toward other Yahoo services. All the news stories I've seen have not included official comment from either company, so it's all speculation at this point. Supposedly there will be an announcement tomorrow, but the wailing and gnashing of teeth has already begun.
But we've been here before, haven't we? Stop me if you've heard this one: Fandom congregates on an advertising-supported Internet platform and contributes content and traffic that helps make the site a success. Then the founders of the platform can't keep up with growth and/or can't figure out how to make sufficient money off the userbase, so they sell to a larger media company that either shuts down the site or starts making drastic changes, and fandom moves to a new platform. Second verse, same as the first...
Little bit louder and a whole lot worse.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: there is a tension in all social media platforms between the users as customers, the users as audience, and the users as providers of content. And remember, as far as these corporations are concerned, we aren't their primary customers. Their advertisers are, because ultimately they're paying the bills -- and the shareholders. You'd think that, since these sites have no content without their users, that they'd put more effort into making users happy, but their track record is notably poor, as a group and Yahoo!'s in particular (buying eGroups and driving out adult content, buying and shutting down Geocities, the acquisition of Flickr that nearly killed the service, and my personal favorite: the De.li.cio.us debacle). Any LiveJournal veteran knows how badly these acquisitions can go wrong. That particular series of botched acquisitions is a huge reason that fandom migrated to Tumblr in the first place. So I think we have lots of good reasons to be worried.
That said, I'm officially taking a "let's wait and see" attitude. One thing all reports agree on: Tumblr, on its own, was almost out of money, and I would currently rather have a Tumblr owned by Yahoo! or another large media company than no Tumblr at all. (And it could have been worse -- rumor was that Facebook was once involved in the bidding. *shudders*) But whenever fandom sets up camp on a platform run by a for-profit company, this is the risk we take. And this is why, ultimately, I think we're better off with non-profits that are either created by fandom or explicitly welcoming to us. Because then we really are the customers, and the content we produce is valued, and not just for the advertising dollars it might attract.
(Adapted from my comments on a Tumblr reblog.)
But we've been here before, haven't we? Stop me if you've heard this one: Fandom congregates on an advertising-supported Internet platform and contributes content and traffic that helps make the site a success. Then the founders of the platform can't keep up with growth and/or can't figure out how to make sufficient money off the userbase, so they sell to a larger media company that either shuts down the site or starts making drastic changes, and fandom moves to a new platform. Second verse, same as the first...
Little bit louder and a whole lot worse.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: there is a tension in all social media platforms between the users as customers, the users as audience, and the users as providers of content. And remember, as far as these corporations are concerned, we aren't their primary customers. Their advertisers are, because ultimately they're paying the bills -- and the shareholders. You'd think that, since these sites have no content without their users, that they'd put more effort into making users happy, but their track record is notably poor, as a group and Yahoo!'s in particular (buying eGroups and driving out adult content, buying and shutting down Geocities, the acquisition of Flickr that nearly killed the service, and my personal favorite: the De.li.cio.us debacle). Any LiveJournal veteran knows how badly these acquisitions can go wrong. That particular series of botched acquisitions is a huge reason that fandom migrated to Tumblr in the first place. So I think we have lots of good reasons to be worried.
That said, I'm officially taking a "let's wait and see" attitude. One thing all reports agree on: Tumblr, on its own, was almost out of money, and I would currently rather have a Tumblr owned by Yahoo! or another large media company than no Tumblr at all. (And it could have been worse -- rumor was that Facebook was once involved in the bidding. *shudders*) But whenever fandom sets up camp on a platform run by a for-profit company, this is the risk we take. And this is why, ultimately, I think we're better off with non-profits that are either created by fandom or explicitly welcoming to us. Because then we really are the customers, and the content we produce is valued, and not just for the advertising dollars it might attract.
(Adapted from my comments on a Tumblr reblog.)
no subject
Yahoo acquired technology that they can expand into something that they are currently missing: an image-centric, mobile phone capable micro-blogging service *and* a lot of 13-24 year old eyeballs (that is the age demographic of 48% of tumblr'ls users and the blinding majority of the content posters). The fact that tumblr currently hosts a lot of porn and a lot of copyright-infringing content is beside the fact to yahoo. They purchased technology and they purchased eyeballs. What happens next is yet to be seen but once yahoo starts integrating the tumblr technology into their larger platform (and, presumably, this will happen), the percentage of porn is likely to drop, partly because mainstream content (mommy blogging? office photos? sporting event stuff?) will go up and partly because the porn will be walled off or removed.
Quick reply dashed off on phone
Re: Quick reply dashed off on phone
Re: Quick reply dashed off on phone
... Er, yeah. I feel all dirty, but I DO THAT VERY THING. Bless FF fans, they keep kitty grit in Sam's box.
Re: Quick reply dashed off on phone
Re: Quick reply dashed off on phone
Great, now I'm having images of Mr. Met and that annoying dinosaur mascot behind the Rockies' home plate trying to figure out how to snog.
(I realize that is not at all what RPF means but apparently my brain goes there to shy away from it)
no subject
It will be interesting to see.
no subject
no subject