A History of Tumblr – See How David Karp Founded The Company


Tumblr.com has gained prominence in recent years as a microblogging platform that has allowed millions of people around the world to share whatever they like. The reason for the site’s popularity is that you don’t need to write long blog posts in order to stand a chance of getting noticed. If you take photos then you can share them with the world, likewise, if you find something funny online then again you can share it with the world. This platform originated from one man, David Karp, and his lead developer Marco Arment.

It was through a lack of patience on David Karp’s part that the website came into existence. David Karp was born in 1986 and at the age of 11 began learning HTML from a book. He dropped out of high school at age of 15 in a bid to form his own company. At the age of 19, a new word began to hit the Internet called ‘tumblelog’ which referred to short blog posts. This idea caught David’s eye and already the seeds of Tumblr were being sown in his mind. David waited for a while to see if anybody launched a website based on this idea, but that never looked like it was going to happen. David teamed up with his friend Marco Arment to begin developing the Tumblr website. On 1st November 2007, the site was fully launched and the history of microblogging changed forever.



Much of the popularity that Tumblr gained was from the media interest, after all, nothing like this had appeared on the internet before. Users were able to like other people’s posts as well as reblog them onto their own blog, further sharing the information that was posted on Tumblr. This really helped gain many more users who had the talent to showcase which they were unable to do in other places. Later on in the life of Tumblr, the users were able to follow others in order to have fresh content served up on their dashboard from people that they actually liked.

Tumblr - Logo

Tumblr.com – Logo

In the middle of 2011, the Tumblr website secured venture capital worth over $40 million in order to allow the website to grow. The company is currently valued at over $80 million and achieves most of its revenue from selling themes and allowing users to have ‘sponsored’ posts. Further monetization is planned for the future.

The history of Tumblr.com may only go back five years but it is already proving itself to be a major force in the social website market. Within 2 weeks of its launch, it gained 75,000 users. Today it boasts over 46 million blogs with over 20,000 new users being added a day. Its closest competitor is Twitter. Tumblr retains over 85% of its sign-ups whereas Twitter only retails around 30%.

The Tumblr.com has already achieved rapid growth and only seems like it is going to continue. This website easily replaces the function of many websites out there such as Flickr and WordPress and serves everything that you could possibly want under one roof.

The Tumblr community is quite diverse, ranging from individuals sharing their thoughts, experiences, and daily musings to prominent individuals and organizations bringing important announcements and breaking news. There are many topics available, from popular culture to fitness and nutrition, to DIY projects and science. Users may add tags to categorize their posts and make them easier to locate. Additionally, users can join existing conversations, follow their favorite content, and engage in meaningful conversations

Users can also find creative inspiration through content such as art, music, and photography. They can reblog a post to share it on their blog, which not only promotes the original content but allows others to discover it as well.

Tumblr offers users a vast library of content to explore and share, making it an easy and hassle-free way to share thoughts, experiences, and pictures with the world. Tumblr is an influential and creative platform and continues to grow as more users join its vast community.