The big tech news of the day is that Yahoo's board has approved
a $1.1 billion cash deal to acquire the blogging platform Tumblr.
This deal, should it go through as is expected, represents an
interesting about-face for Yahoo. After
all, this is a company that has shuttered a number of services focused on
publishing user-generated content in recent years, including a blogging
platform (360). Thus, it’s no surprise
that the rumors of this acquisition have been greeted with a good deal of
skepticism. In many ways, Tumblr does
not on the surface appear to be a very good fit given Yahoo’s corporate
culture. Tumblr is a freewheeling
platform where web comics, animated GIFs, adult content, teenage angst, and
political activism have all found a home.
One could argue, based especially on its diversity of content (and the
animated GIFs), that Tumblr is the GeoCities of the 2010s, but Tumblr is an
even freer environment than GeoCities was, especially given that Tumblr
bloggers can monetize their content.
Traditionally, Yahoo has frowned on adult content and barred users from
making money using their platforms.
Yahoo also skews old while Tumblr skews very young. That’s a reason FOR the acquisition from
Yahoo’s perspective, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be a severe
culture clash coming down a line.
If there’s any reason to be hopeful that this acquisition
just might work out, it’s Yahoo Voices. That, too, is a service that specializes in
user-generated content and was the result of an acquisition (Associated
Content). Essentially, it’s an article
and video site powered by contributions from users. For years, I would just about never run into
Yahoo links on search engines apart from news stories on occasion. Thanks to Yahoo Voices, those virtual
encounters happen much more often now.
The actual material posted on the site varies widely in quality, as is
to be expected. From where I sit,
though, it seems like a fairly successful site for Yahoo (though I have no clue
as to whether or not it is a financial success). The Voices comparison is even more
appropriate when one considers it is an earning platform for writers and video
creators. I have a hard time imagining the
Yahoo of 5 or 10 years ago running such a site.
Perhaps Yahoo really is changing.
Arguably, Yahoo’s best chance at pulling off a successful
Tumblr acquisition would be to let the site run more or less independently. The fewer the changes, the smoother the
transition will be for users. Let some unconnected
Tumblr users a year from now still not realize there was an acquisition because
the site from their perspective works just as it always did – that’s the
hallmark of a successful acquisition! On
the other hand, Yahoo does want to profit from acquiring Tumblr in some
way. The platform could no doubt be
better monetized, but this will have to be done with subtlety to avoid angering
the user base. Tumblr as a company was
extremely reluctant to monetize precisely because it realized its users might
revolt at a wide deployment of ads or a sudden focus on paid services. If nothing else, Yahoo hopes to be linked
with Tumblr in the public mind – the corporate overlord also wants to be
perceived as cool, hip, and young or at least as cooler, hipper, and younger
than it was before the purchase. It
wants to be a company which is believed to have a vision and a mission, a
business which makes moves with purpose and must be taken seriously. In short, Yahoo wants to be relevant again –
a true giant on the Web. I wouldn’t
necessarily bet against them.
