Tumblr solely consists of content contributed by its 300 million users. However, Tumblr only had $13 million in revenue last year. According to forbes.com, Yahoo! is expected to increase the amount of ads on the website in order to increase revenue. This monetization has the potential to limit the space the user can design and eliminate the users’ feelings of control over the site.
The varying demographics between Yahoo! and Tumblr also pose a threat to Tumblr’s unity and popularity. Yahoo! typically has been known to appeal to a wide range of age groups, due to its email accounts and news availability, while Tumblr has the support of the often sought after 18 to 24 year olds. The differing demographics have the potential to cause a clash of goals and plans for the future of the social media site.
Yahoo! has the potential to uproot Tumblr’s foundation as a user-directed blogging site. As a result, Yahoo! has to be extremely careful of which direction it decides to take Tumblr. In order to maintain Tumblr’s current popularity as well as boost Yahoo!’s, the company must make sure that it does not undermine Tumblr’s intended purpose. Otherwise, the result could be catastrophic for both sites.