The Rise and Fall of Tumblr, a Defining Site of the Early 2010s

Posted by Carisa Kissane on Tuesday, May 21, 2024
  • Tumblr remains one of the most defining internet platforms of the new millennium.
  • But it notoriously struggled to be profitable after it stood up in 2007 and was bought and sold twice.
  • Tumblr was valued at $800 million in 2012. It was last sold for $3 million.

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If TikTok is Generation Z's favorite social media platform, Tumblr was arguably Millennials.'

It's hard to deny the blogging website's influence on the generation's adolescent years — the site allowed users to curate photos, posts, links, and other media into their own customized blog, birthing its own specific brand of internet culture that walked so today's online zeitgeist could run.

But, like Vine, the beloved platform has gradually transformed into a vestige of the early 2010s. It's been passed from corporation to corporation in the last decade after the free-spirited company struggled with profitability. 

And while it may or may not see a Gen Z-led comeback soon, it's likely earned its spot on the list of most influential internet platforms to ever exist.

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Here's the rise and fall of the website that bred the "Tumblr girl."

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