Now Buy, Pledge and Get Involved on Tumblr

Tumblr’s new iOS update for iPhone and iPad is now enabling micro-bloggers to buy products and support campaigns on their feed.

The new update automatically converts links to Kickstarter, Etsy or DoSomething.org to buttons, which let users pledge, buy or support a campaign. The rollout comes about three months after Tumblr beta tested the buttons last year for Artsy and the three other websites.

Currently, the buttons only appear when a blog is viewed on Tumblr’s app or through dashboard viewed on the Web or from a mobile device. However, Tumblr hasn’t made them available when a blog is viewed on the Web using a direct link. With the launch of the buttons, Tumblr is the first among other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, which are aligning their eCommerce strategies by testing and introducing “buy” buttons.

The new eCommerce strategy might further deepen the pockets of Tumblr, which reportedly a saw 46.2 percent user growth in 2013 totaling 13.7 million new users. Thereby, helping save Yahoo’s sinking revenue, which has been fast losing its market share to Facebook and other competitors.

“The number of registered blogs nearly doubled from 105 million to 206 million, mobile monthly users of their mobile app grew by 50 percent and — perhaps most impressively — Tumblr time spend grew from 22 minutes to 28 minutes,” said Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer at the earnings report Q3 2014 conference call.

“Tumblr’s revenue is growing nicely and we anticipate them achieving more than $100 million in revenue as well as positive EBITDA in 2015,” she said.

Tumblr has yet to unveil the “buy, pledge and get involved” buttons for its Android app.