High-res futurejournalismproject: GigaOm’s Matthew Ingram writes about Tumblr’s explosive growth and notes that there are two key sets of users that have been coming on board the last number of months: teens and publishers.  He wonders though whether Tumblr will be the next Facebook or MySpace: All of this growth is wonderful for Tumblr, which was started by David Karp four years ago, when he was just 20 years old — but the big unanswered question is whether the network can actually bring in revenue to match that growth. Everyone wants to be the next Facebook, which many early observers doubted would ever find a way to make money and now brings in revenues estimated at $2 billion. But MySpace also grew to massive levels, with more than 76 million users at its peak, and was bought by News Corp. for $580 million, only to rapidly decline after it failed to figure out how to make money. While comparisons are nice, we think it’s a bit apples and robots. Yes, Tumblr eventually needs to find a sustainable business model. But instead of looking to FB and MySpace, let’s watch Tumblr be the first Tumblr. Image: Gabrie Coletti via Flickr/Creative Commons. Agreed. Tumblr is its own thing.

futurejournalismproject:

GigaOm’s Matthew Ingram writes about Tumblr’s explosive growth and notes that there are two key sets of users that have been coming on board the last number of months: teens and publishers. 

He wonders though whether Tumblr will be the next Facebook or MySpace:

All of this growth is wonderful for Tumblr, which was started by David Karp four years ago, when he was just 20 years old — but the big unanswered question is whether the network can actually bring in revenue to match that growth. Everyone wants to be the next Facebook, which many early observers doubted would ever find a way to make money and now brings in revenues estimated at $2 billion. But MySpace also grew to massive levels, with more than 76 million users at its peak, and was bought by News Corp. for $580 million, only to rapidly decline after it failed to figure out how to make money.

While comparisons are nice, we think it’s a bit apples and robots. Yes, Tumblr eventually needs to find a sustainable business model. But instead of looking to FB and MySpace, let’s watch Tumblr be the first Tumblr.

Image: Gabrie Coletti via Flickr/Creative Commons.

Agreed. Tumblr is its own thing.

Notes

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    I have a life. It’s called tumblr.
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