IMPORTANT: If you use the Tumblr app on your mobile device...
Tumblr has taken control of your dashboard feed without your consent. A recently implemented automatic update to your app called “Best Stuff First” has removed the chronological dashboard feed you are accustomed to. So, you no longer see the content posted from the blogs you have chosen to follow in real time as it is posted.
Instead, Tumblr now decides for you what it wants you to see. Tumblr calls it “Best Stuff First”. It means that if Tumblr doesn’t think the posts from the blogs you follow are “best” for you then it will put those posts far down on your dashboard feed even if they were being posted in real time as you were scrolling your feed. In other words it is what Tumblr has decided is best for you.
When Tumblr implemented this feature, they automatically turned it on on every mobile app without telling you. Since its implementation, scores of Tumblr pages that once had high traffic and reblogs have had their page traffic completely decimated.
Alpharut alone has gone from a couple thousand notes and about 300 new followers every three days to a few hundred notes and 30 - 40 new followers every 3 days. only one posts from alpharut is now currently getting regular reblogs out of over 2,000 posts. Alpharut is a porn blog targeting a very specific audience so it is just a small corner of Tumblr. Life is more than a porn blog.
More importantly, this new feature has significantly decimated traffic for artists, writers, merchants, photographers, and other freelance content creators who use their page as part of their livelihood. Tumblr seemingly gave no thought to responsible implementation of this new feature; and it’s communication about it was abysmal. You can search “Best Stuff First” on in your Tumblr search bar and see other users and content creators whose blog traffic has been killed.
Tumblr has been unresponsive and gone radio silent about the issue despite a ground swell of content creators sending messages about it.
The good news is, you can turn this new unwanted, asinine auto-on feature off. Tumblr just didn’t bother to tell anyone until the noise got too loud.
settings > global settings > dashboard preferences > turn “best stuff first” off
If you want to decide what content you see in your dashboard feed and not have Tumblr tell you what is best for you, go turn it off now so you can see your favorite blogs in your feed again.
Below is a shot of the screen to turn it off and also a snapshot of blog traffic from alpharut so you can see the impact this new feature is having on blogs.
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
