Tumblr
Name: Tumblr
Owned By: Tumbler, Inc.
Category: Social networking
Operating System: IOS and Android
Available for download: Yes
Desktop version: Yes
Approximate release date: 2007
Age Rating*: Rated 17+ for the following:
- Infrequent/mild realistic violence
- Infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence
- Infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco, or drug use or references
- Frequent/intense sexual content or nudity
- Infrequent/mild profanity or crude humor
- Infrequent/mild medical/treatment information
- Infrequent/mild horror/fear themes
- Infrequent/mild mature/suggestive themes
Brief Description*: Tumblr. An effervescent pocket of pure internet culture. The subtle experience. An ecosystem of posting what you make, sharing what you love, and scrolling through all that lies in between memes, text, music, and tweets. Post pictures of your pet snake, delve into dank memes, find fellow fans, match your reality to your mood in a GIF. Add it to it or simply scroll through and soak it up.
*Information from the App Store
- Access to your photo gallery
You can upload photos onto Tumblr from your photo gallery.
- Access to contacts (on the device)
Users cannot sync their contacts to their Tumblr accounts.
- Anonymous posting (posting without a username or other identifiers)
There is no anonymous posting on Tumblr — all posts are connected to an account.
- Business Accounts (used for business)
Some businesses use Tumblr to create sponsored posts, and some use it for content marketing.
- Usage of hashtags
Users can incorporate hashtags onto their posts to increase engagement.
- Connect with strangers
You can follow blogs and reblog content from users you don’t know.
- Ability to text and video chat
Text and video are not features on Tumblr.
- Cyberbullying opportunities
While cyberbullying can occur on social media platforms, it is unlikely on Tumblr.
- Inappropriate content
While this isn’t common, inappropriate content can be found on Tumblr.
- Search feature
Individuals can search for blogs, interests, or categories to see posts related to your search.
- Photo/Video editing
Individuals can add filters and text to uploaded photos.
- Pornography
- Collects user’s information
Tumblr may use data, such as contact information and identifiers, to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. Additionally, Tumblr may collect data linked to your identity, including location, user content, identifiers, diagnostics, contact information, search history, and usage data.
Reviewed By: Ryan
Tumblr is a “microblogging” website where users can share images, gifs, videos, and other media. Tumblr has historically had drug, mental health, eating disorder, and self-harm, and suicide content.
In the fall of 2018, the app was pulled from the Apple App Store due to child pornography being discovered on Tumblr. In response, Tumblr changed its policy on nudity and pornography, thus banning all adult content. However, I find it difficult to believe, based upon the history of Tumblr and its user base, that Tumblr will be able to keep all adult content off the platform.
Be aware of other sites popping up to take the traffic that is currently banned on Tumblr. I would not recommend Tumblr for anyone under 18 years old.
Safety Tips
- Set the account to private. Here is how to set the privacy settings.
- Only accept followers of people they know in person.
- Remove any unknown followers that they currently have.
- Turn off location services.
- Do not respond to Direct Messages from people they don’t know.
- Block bullies. Stick with the age restrictions
- Set the account to private.
- Here is how to set the privacy settings.
- Only accept followers of people they know in person.
- Remove any unknown followers that they currently have.
- Turn off location services. Do not respond to Direct Messages from people they don’t know.
- Block bullies.
- Stick with the age restrictions.