Tumblr’s official post about the elimination of threaded comments says it’s to improve readability. Since numerous folks have complained in the tumblr update tag that the change makes reading comments more difficult, you might find that hard to believe.
“Better readability” is the story Tumblr is telling users. To its business and advertising partners, Yahoo/Tumblr’s story is quite different. The comment change is merely a symptom. The actual changes are:
–New functionality to link the Tumblr mobile app to other mobile apps (Facebook, Twitter) and share content (x). Android only so far. With this update, users on mobile can share any content on Tumblr with just one click to any app they have running (x).
–New functionality to advertise mobile apps to Tumblr mobile app users (x). Called “In-App Sharing,” (you are what is being shared), it was announced at the Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference, August 26, 2015. It works like this: when viewing a Tumblr post created with an app like Instagram, you see text saying “Made with Instagram” followed by an Install button for Instagram. (Example image, above right, features the Discover app). “Developers” are what Yahoo calls its corporate advertising partners. These “developers” are not young folks crafting open source apps to save the environment; at the conference, Yahoo senior vice president Simon Khalaf boasted that global mobile usage now “beats the [global] distribution of clean water” (x). Charming.
As many Tumblr users have complained, the change to Tumblr comments (live on Tumblr mobile apps and Tumblr for the web as of September 3, 2015) make Tumblr look like Facebook and Twitter. This is undoubtedly to support the new ability to link the Tumblr mobile app with other mobile apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, and to share content. Tumblr’s original threaded comment format (see image above on left) cannot port to Facebook or Twitter or anywhere. Therefore, while Tumblr support said it wants feedback on the comments change, rest assured all feedback of the “Comments are less readable now” type will be “lovingly” (x) dumped in the trash.
On August 17, 2015, Yahoo/Tumblr got a fantastic scare from Facebook, when Facebook announced, “We’re testing an update to Notes to make it easier for people to create and read longer-form stories on Facebook,” in order to compete with Tumblr (x). Yahoo/Tumblr, Google/YouTube, Facebook/Instagram, and Twitter are locked into a death struggle, usually clumping into Facebook versus everyone else, except when they clump into Google versus everyone else. In any case, in the trenches of the social media wars, it’s the users who always lose.
Note: want actual news about Yahoo/Tumblr? Go to finance.yahoo.com and search for “tumblr”.
Preeeeetty much this.
Follow the money.