International Courant
Tumblr, a flailing social media web site from a bygone period, could also be run by a skeleton crew any more. An alleged inner memo from mother or father firm Automattic has made the rounds on social platforms (together with Threads), stating it has “not gotten the anticipated outcomes from our effort.” The choice seems to mark a pointy U-turn from a separate leak this summer season, claiming Automattic was constructing a TikTok-like algorithmic feed into the growing older web site.
Though this does not fairly seem like the top of the highway for Tumblr, the word would not sound promising for the platform’s future. It says “nearly all of the 139 individuals” will swap to different Automattic initiatives, leaving a barebones gang of Belief & Security and assist staff to supervise Tumblr’s smoldering embers. Given what number of brutal layoffs we have seen this 12 months, dealing with the transition in a method that avoids job losses might be a silver lining.
Automattic, the corporate behind the running a blog software WordPress, acquired Tumblr in 2019 from Verizon, which landed the platform via its buy of Yahoo! (Engadget’s mother or father firm) in 2017. It most likely did not assist that its possession became a recreation of musical chairs, and none of them appeared to seek out the appropriate formulation to get the microblogging community again on its toes. (Its controversial ban on grownup content material probably had one thing to do with that.)
“We’re on the level the place after 600+ person-years of effort put into Tumblr for the reason that acquisition in 2019, now we have not gotten the anticipated outcomes from our effort, which was to have its income and utilization above its earlier peaks,” the alleged memo reads. After throwing in cliches about climbing mountains and being higher to attempt to fail than to not strive in any respect, the word claims the workforce’s subsequent step is to “replicate and resolve the place else we should always focus our vitality collectively.”
Engadget reached out to Automattic for remark and affirmation however didn’t instantly obtain a response. We’ll replace this text if we hear again.
Along with WordPress, Automattic’s different manufacturers embody the journaling app Day One, the e-commerce plugin WooCommerce, Gravatar and the note-taking app SimpleNote.
