Tumblr est. 2007

10 years ago this Sunday, with modest expectations and little fanfare, Marco and I launched a side-project called Tumblr—a place where anyone could “post anything and customize everything.”

Why did the world need Tumblr? I wasn’t sure it did. But I did.

2006

The net is vast and infinite. The web browser has become a multimedia powerhouse. “Social media” is upending news and entertainment. One-year-old YouTube has created a phenomenon of “viral video.” Google hits for “podcast” have jumped from 100-thousand to 100-million in less than a year. Twitter has just launched. And the “blogosphere” has become the voice of millions, with the total number of blogs now doubling every six months. Dope.

But for all this progress, some of the internet’s brightest promise is fading. The wide-open and whimsical frontier of the World Wide Web is being reshaped by strict, narrow platforms. Our pictures, videos, music, journals, articles, links, status updates, are spread across a dozen different networks—each specializing in a single medium. The infinitely expressive canvas of HTML has been eclipsed by directories of vanilla-white profile pages. Our digital identities are fractured and engineers make the rules.

Enter Tumblehub Tumblespot Tumblr, a modest solution inspired by an avant-garde community of bloggers calling themselves “tumbleloggers.” The premise, simply, to make space for each individual’s full range of expression. A median between the author’s unfiltered and editorial voice. With complete control over design and presentation, so anyone can create something that truly represents themselves and that is truly unique.

2007

After four months of running my own blog on Tumblr, making tweaks and improvements, we open to the public. Hundreds of thousands of people begin using Tumblr to share some of the most eclectic, clever, and beautiful things we’ve ever seen on the internet.

We are humbled and awestruck.

Racing to keep up, every feature we add attempts to stretch the canvas a little bit more, pushed by this community’s constant and boundless creativity. Five months in, you have captured our hearts. We work up the courage to pursue Tumblr full time.

With a new purpose and brave investors, we close down our web development business and reopen as Tumblr, Inc.

2017

336 million Tumblrs. 146 billion posts. And counting.

A generation of artists, writers, creators, curators, and crusaders that have redefined our culture.

I can’t say this enough: Thank you, thank you, thank you for making Tumblr everything that it is. For everything we’ve built, and all its shortcomings, you have managed to make this one of the most creative, lively, thoughtful, supportive, and open-minded corners of the world.

We have learned so much from you and been so moved by your voices.

The Next Ten Years

The internet is at a crossroads again.

Internet culture has become the prevalent, global culture. These networks expose us to new ideas and information but–too often–trap us in bubbles. The world has been compressed, and we are constantly challenged to reconcile our differences.

With so many barriers to digital expression now lifted, and nearly all modes of media supported across all platforms, there is now an unprecedented opportunity to dedicate this space to freedom, truth, expanded perspective, and positive influence in the world. Tumblr’s focus over the next decade will shift accordingly.

Expression has been and always will be a foundational part of Tumblr—and our roadmap this year will not disappoint—but it is now more urgent than ever to empower positive and productive connections across the communities that thrive here. To create an environment where people are truly safe to be themselves. To ensure positive discourse rises above toxicity. And to protect the free exchange of ideas, from which truth will emerge.

We still have so much to prove and so much we’ve promised you. With this renewed focus, we are determined to deliver.

One Last Thing

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone working on, and who has ever worked on, Tumblr. I’ve learned so much from all of you, and it is a privilege to come to work with so many brilliant and talented people. We couldn’t have done any of this without your maniacal devotion throughout this journey.

Online Fandom (via yvynyl)

Mitch Hanley, Senior Producer

We arrived in Greensboro on Tuesday afternoon and headed straight up to Antioch Baptist Church (see image below) to see if there was any information on services during the week. We were hoping to gather sound of the church’s congregation, perhaps speaking to members who had seen the previous incarnation. Cruising down the 1.5 lane highway at a healthy speed, we eyed this tiny sign pointing down a gravel road (driveway) “Antioch Baptist Church.” The grass between the tire tracks was quite tall, giving me the impression that this church might not get used at all. As we walked up to the structure we knew immediately that this was a Rural Studio project, it was like no other church in the area (except for the other RS chapels).

Alongside the church is an elevated graveyard with headstones dating back to the early 1800’s. The juxtaposition of these old tombs looking upon the modern chapel below was striking, as was the fact that the only windows along the long walls of the church were the narrow strip which looked directly out at the graves.

As we walked along the grounds, which were surrounded by thick forests of pines, you could hear an old hound dog howling in the distance interspersed with long stretches of eerie silence. This combination seemed to say, Welcome to rural Alabama!

‘the 3 bens’

Here are a collection of trailers that I was just freaking out over:

The Pineapple Express -  Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, James Franco. They sold me on a single line from this trailer. I won’t say it here, it comes at 0:51 seconds.

The Happening - Shymalan. This trailer is better than all of Lady In The Water. For a more revealing trailer, where we get some actual plot details and lengthy, ridiculous close up of Mark Wahlberg click here.

GPOYW - With no turkey props to photograph something inappropriate, I went ahead and captured another random scenario with features in my new apartment - meet my floating light globe thingys.

Also with the new Tumblr tag tracking, I’ve seen several questions as to what GPOYW is - a quick synopsis: the acronym stands for gratuitous picture of yourself Wednesday, it started here, got some legs here, some asshole squatted the domain here and we all come together and share here. It began as a joke, turned into a tradition and much love to everyone that so loyally plays along each week. Thanks to all, safe travels and may you all consume at least 1200-2000 calories in one meal. Until then, GPOYW on!