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Tumblr's Web Traffic Has Dropped From 520 Million Page Views in December 2018 To 370 Million Page Views in February This Year Following Adult Content Ban (independent.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the repercussions dept.

Tumblr's ban on pornography and adult content has led to an estimated fifth of its users deserting the platform. From a report: Tumblr's ban on pornography and adult content has led to a fifth of its users deserting the platform, figures reveal. The ban, which came into effect on 17 December, provoked a backlash from users who claimed it would penalise sex-positive, LGBT and NSFW art communities. Visits to the Tumblr website fell from 521 million in December to 437 million in January and 370 million in February, according to data from web analytics firm SimilarWeb. Tumblr's decision to update its content policy came after the discovery of child sexual abuse imagery on its blogs.

19 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Probably worse than that by cirby · · Score: 2

    "Site visits" is a very vague metric.

    If someone went to Tumblr before December, they'd probably end up looking at a lot of different pages, for a lot of page views.

    Now? "Hey, that artist I used to like is gone, I guess I'll hit Newgrounds or Discord again..."

    1. Re:Probably worse than that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Most of us migrated to Newgrounds / Twitter but yeah it's DEAD on tumblr now, I check my feed every couple of days and there's not much content being pumped out at all. The main trouble is users who were banned for adult content usually only ran NSFW side-blogs so you didn't just lose porn you lost SFW content they contributed as well.

      Granted I was only there for the shitposts and art (SFW and otherwise) but the whole place is an empty shell of itself.

      Like I say most of us have moved to twitter for our microblogging and Newgrounds to post are lewd content and so far the experience has been a good one. Tumblr was a real trip, I've been using it for 9 years now but its time is over.

      Conspiracy theory time: it's well known within the Tumblr community that Verizon wasn't making heaps of money with it, some of us think this may have been a self-sabotaging move to make it so unprofitable Verizon just dumps it after a year or so

    2. Re:Probably worse than that by Quakeulf · · Score: 2

      I ran a creative blog on Tumblr but then they started flagging my posts left and right so I left. Besides, my engagements were getting so low I felt it wasn't worth it anyhow. The issue now is that this censorship is coming to other platforms too, and as with Tumblr, it harms more than it does good, as I was not one who posted questionable stuff. The "worst" offender was a naked woman's thigh, but she was clearly drawn as an adult.

  2. The lesson is to not take away. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If your business model is based on numbers and traffic, (to show advertising) taking away content will normally bite back.
    It allowed Adult Content, it blocked it, there is a population who used the platform for that content, and now no longer uses it. Thus less add content.

    If Tumblr never allowed the content to begin with, users wouldn't have used the site for such content, and they wouldn't have such a dip in users.

    In general a cut in revenue is worse, then having a slow steady rise in revenue. As any of you who had pay cuts or got fired from your job know. We buy housing, and transportation based on what we are able to support, If we make more money we will usually get a more expensive one. With a price cut, we have a lot of large expenses that is difficult to trim down quickly. That house mortgage is still there, you may still have car payments, It will take time to sell your house and your car may be too devalued to make it affordable to trade in for a cheaper version.
    Tumblr probably now needs to figure out how to run more lean, as a lot of their resources were needed in the past and now they don't need as much anymore, costing them more to operate with less revenue in.
     

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:The lesson is to not take away. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They should have made an adult spin-off site. Served both markets, resolved the issues for advertisers who don't want to be on a porn site.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:The lesson is to not take away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      cumblr

    3. Re:The lesson is to not take away. by rjstanford · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Its entirely possible that the adult audience was harder to sell ads to, or far more enthusiastic in their use of adblockers. Total traffic should not and does not imply monetized traffic.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    4. Re:The lesson is to not take away. by TWX · · Score: 2

      Fark.com tried that in 2006 or so with a new domain name for a site called Foobies, but in the end they still discontinued it. Not sure that a separate site would work when the primary site is largely based on a combination of vanity publishing and counter-culture content including sexual content.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Nobody saw that coming... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    ...because that type of content was banned!

    ba-dump ching

    1. Re:Nobody saw that coming... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      ba-dump ching

      I think you need to get your cymbals fixed.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Nobody saw that coming... by slaker · · Score: 2

      Hilariously, post-ban, Tumblr has robo-filters in place that are really only functional for female (presenting) anatomy. If you want to watch see male parts or homosexual male pornography, content is available with almost no barrier on Tumblr. ... which means seeing a male coming is still A-OK so long as there's no titties in the media.

      Yes, it's exactly as dumb as it sounds.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  4. God bless America... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    God bless America...
    Laaaand of the prudes...

    Oh, and fuck every single senatwhore and congressworm who voted for SESTA/FOSTA. Yep, Dems and Reps alike are at fault, it's not a partisan issue here.

  5. I wouldn't know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All I get from them is a cookie wall that doesn't work, and so I can't even tell them about it. I wonder if they count "end up following a tumblr-link, get redirected to the blank page that is the cookie wall, give up" as a "site visit".

  6. Re:That's All by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought porn was about 90% of tumblr's business.

    Turns out it was only a fifth. The other four fifths is outrage.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  7. Re:Less weird fetish posts... by slaker · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm responding to an AC and I already know that is dumb but as someone who has run adult web sites, trans content is
    1. Overwhelmingly consumed by self-identified straight people. There's almost zero interest in it among consumers of cisgendered male/male pornography.
    2. Enormously popular. Easily a top-5 category by most metrics.

    It isn't normalized to the degree that some other content is; we don't joke about it yet on daytime TV, but it wouldn't surprise me if norms change to that point by the time GenZs are in their 30s.

    --
    -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  8. Is porn "consumed"? by tepples · · Score: 2

    trans content is
    1. Overwhelmingly consumed by self-identified straight people.

    Why "consumed" as opposed to "viewed"? It's not as if viewing a slideshow of erotic photos of a trans person causes those photos to no longer exist in the same way that food is "consumed".

    1. Re:Is porn "consumed"? by slaker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not all content is visual. Tumblr is a multimedia platform and some content can be audio or textual. Further, porn is "consumed" in the sense that for most people part of the engagement is deriving enjoyment then moving on to the next dopamine hit of novelty. It's unusual, especially on a platform that creates a never-ending stream of new content, to return to the same posts again and again. The choice of word was deliberate.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  9. The rest of the story by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Visits to the Tumblr website fell from 521 million in December to 437 million in January and 370 million in February,

    300 million of those February visits were just to confirm the porn was gone. Good luck with March!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  10. Re:That's All by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, then they're fine. Outrage is a growth industry.