BTD

Since it was founded in 2007, microblogging platform Tumblr quickly became a collection of quirky content. Focused heavily on images and long-form content, more anonymous and publicly accessible, the platform is known for its openness to adult content. In truth, it’s what helped the site grow so rapidly.

The initial plan for Tumblr was to have a “business in the front, party in the back” content management style. This would encourage a clean and tidy, corporate-friendly front page that distracted from the increasingly odd content uploaded by users. For a time, this dual model seemed to work for Tumblr. The platform managed to be both clean cut to attract Yahoo as a buyer, for example. At the same time, however, it become popularized for its adult content.

In 2013, TechCrunch reported that a full 11.4 percent of Tumblr’s top 200,000 sites were adult content-related. In addition, 22.37 percent of sites sending traffic to Tumblr were pornographic – making the adult industry the largest source of traffic to Tumblr, as far as category.

However, according to a recent announcement, that is all over now. Tumbler, now owned by Verizon, has stated that adult content will soon be banned from the site. The date of Dec. 17 has been given for the start of a brand new, nudity free Tumblr.

For many, this shift does not come as a huge surprise. Although the site did initially embrace adult content, it has been slowly edging towards a more conservative attitude. Tumblr is not …