Monetizing Tumblr

                Tumblr, the place where memes turn viral, the place where we can find millions of Asians sleeping in university libraries (many of which are from NYU), and whatshouldwecallme—enough said. With 54 million registered users, people find it is a nice complement to Facebook as it is a channel for expression and Facebook is more of a channel for communication.

With such a huge following, Tumblr has announced it would start monetizing the site. Instead of placing traditional advertisements in random places in each website, they will allow companies to promote pages and specific posts as it is a more subtle and integrated way of connected with users. The issue is, users have been commercial-free since 2007 so they need to figure out a way to advertise without annoying the consumers.

While Tumblr is sort of walking on eggshells, I think this is a great decision and the only logical decisions after amassing such a huge audience. David Karp, Tumblr’s founder and CEO states that some firms are offering $25,000 just to promote a post. It is clear how beneficial this venture can be but they need to make sure the sponsored posts are as out of the way as possible while still maintaining a decent click-thru percentage.