Tumblr Raises $85 Million; Some Unethical Content Still Available

By Elton Jones, Christian Post Reporter Monday, September 26, 2011

Social blogging website Tumblr, which surpassed Wordpress.com has raised $85 million in company funding through Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners, as well as Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson.

Tumblr's other investors include The Chernin Group and Sir Richard Branson. Returning investors now include Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Tumblr's original funding came from Daniel Karp's income as a software consultant at parenting site UrbanBaby

Tumblr's simple and no-cost platform is now home to several celebrity bloggers like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. In the company's last few months, Tumblr grew 183 percent in unique users from May 2010 to May 2011. The site's 10 billionth post hit in September. In June, the blog site set a new high of 400 million page views a day.

According to ComScore, Tumblr has attained more page views than both Wikipedia and Twitter. The site's size is also reported to be about half the size of AOL and Craigslist. Tumblr's 30 million+ blogs generate more than 40 million daily posts, which equates to about 26,000 posts every minute.

Tumblr combines elements of traditional blogging and Twitter. Users perform a myriad of actions, from sharing photos and links to following other people's blogs and re-posting their content.

Users blog on a large variety of topics for the social networking website; some of them clean and beneficial and while others remain mature and unethical.

Posts can be found on the site supporting certain religions, music, sports, celebrities etc. Some users have also used the site to report missing individuals. Many of the Tumblr's positive uses result from bloggers who create pages for less obscene interests and social movements.

More mature blogs can also be found on Tumblr, however. Loads of content featuring pornographic and violent material are posted through some users' blogs. Still, the site is open to everyone's particular hobbies and interests. Whether it be blog posts on someone's favorite musical artists or picture postings of naked men or women, Tumblr is a site that has gained lots of attention nonetheless.

Tumblr was first created in 2007 by David Karp. The website was introduced in order to make it easier for users new to the blogging process. Tumblr, Inc., the company that operates the website, houses its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.