For those who saw that post urging people to run for the hills and cry a river over how Yahoo lost money on tumblr and will therefore suddenly shut it down, breathe.
Tumblr is amongst the Big Four with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with 300 million monthly users last month. 100 million people use IG every month, and IG is in no danger of “poofing” away. The Big Four have become iconic in recent years, talked about on talkshows, referenced in movies, and while scrolling down any article you will most likely see the “tumblr” “tweet” “share” and “email” buttons.
“But the number of users is declining!” You say. Angry Birds players have declined too over the years, but it’s still wildly popular and one of the top rated games on the App store. Less people are using Facebook now too, but it’s still here. I tried searching tumblr and google for any sort of other information about Yahoo chopping tumblr, but all I found was that one post. Preemptive widespread panic from some simple speculation.
Yes, Yahoo may have suddenly shut down a couple fandom-oriented sites a few years back, blah blah. But tumblr is more than just a (giant) site for posting fandom content; to erase tumblr would be to erase millions of pieces of art, poetry, writing, company platforms, film campaigns, photography, podcasts, celebrity users, social communities, and business resources. Highly successful people and popular bloggers that are known elsewhere, made famous by tumblr. Yahoo will not want to piss off 300 million people and be known as the company who killed all that. Especially without heavy warning.
Save your posts if you want to (I always just email myself the text or put files on a flash drive), but I’ll eat my shoe if one day we open the login page and find a “sorry, this site was taken down!” message. It’s regular and expected business for profit to dip down before it dips up again. If Yahoo really is losing that much money (assuming thecited article is true) some other company will buy tumblr, as tumblr has been around since 2007.
That being said, I would back up your files. It’s a smart move in general and helps you keep on top of things.
