Does Tumblr Have A Porn Problem Or Not?

Does Tumblr Have A Porn Problem Or Not?

So the Interwebz is all abuzz on a Monday, thanks to the news about Yahoo buying out microblogging site Tumblr. Not everyone is on Tumblr, for sure, but the site has had a very strong following, and one would normally say that it is a feat for Yahoo to acquire such a platform. But is it, really?

According to Forbes contributor Peter Cohan, it might not be all sugar and spice and everything nice, though. He highlights four tests of a successful acquisition – all of which Yahoo is supposed to have failed. The reasons?

1. Tumblr’s industry is not attractive.
2. Combined companies are worse off.
3. Yahoo is overpaying. (To the tune of $1.1 billion)
4. Yahoo will struggle to integrate Tumblr.

Users probably do not care about those four tests, with only “What will happen to my Tumblr?” on their mind. If Matt Mullenweg (the WordPress dude) can be believed, they’ve already seen 72,000 blog posts imported from Tumblr in the short span of one hour (on Sunday). I suppose that is as good an indication as any that the Tumblr acquisition may not have pretty results.
Then there’s the “Tumblr porn problem”.
Well, some say it does not exist. Some would say, the Internet is for porn.

 Just another pretty girl on Tumblr, but a huge portion of the content is not as family safe as this image.

The fact of the matter is that Tumblr officially accepts NSFW blogs, as long as they are aptly labeled as such. That should end the question right there. NSFW may not always be porn, but that sure says a lot.
Peter Kafka of AllThingsD also has an interesting take on this in his article about Yahoo not thinking that there is a Tumblr porn problem. He makes an example out of one site, Girls in Yoga Pants, which might be seen as innocuous if you want to go that route. (After all, who’s to say that people don’t want to see how yoga pants fit before they buy? Yoga is a popular activity these days!)

Apparently, there is a proliferation of these kinds of sites on Tumblr.

Is there a problem or not? It depends on your perspective. As a user, you’re not obliged to see that kind of content. As an advertiser, apparently Tumblr’s set up is that advertisers do not have to worry about showing up on sites that are NSFW. From this perspective, it is a non-issue. The problem will lie in parental guidance and control.


[Images via electrovision and 2slick]