What does the Tumblr buyout mean for authors?

Did you hear that Yahoo! bought Tumblr for $1.1 Billion? Pretty crazy. I'm not going to write about whether it's a good deal or not. I'm going to dig into what it means for authors and publishers. Social media is one of the best outlets for publishers and self-publishers to get the word out about new books. What happens if smaller social media networks are bought up by bigger networks? What happens when social media platforms go from "new" to "mainstream?"

A good starting point is the graph that the Atlantic made, called The Race for Second Place:

I found this fascinating.

So here's the social media layout:

1. Facebook: 1 billion users.

2. Twitter: 200 million.

3. Tumblr: 170 million (Bought by Yahoo!).

4. Instagram: 100 million (Owned by Facebook).

5. Pinterest: 50 million.

In his article, Madrigal also points out that Facebook is 5x as big as any of them alone and 2x as big as all of them combined. I'm not sure where you're mind goes when you scan those numbers, but my first thought is, "What if Twitter bought Pinterest?!!?" But that's another story.

Publishers and Social Media

So what does a big purchase like Yahoo! buying Tumblr mean for publishers?

1. Integration: If Yahoo! owns Tumblr, publishers will be able to play off of the new connections between Yahoo!'s awesome content network and Tumblr's avid fanbase. I would look for YA and paranormanl fiction to do some interesting things with content there.

2. Twitter shrinking: I love Twitter, but when you look at this chart, they are the only network that doesn't do a good job with images. The other four are basically based on image sharing. I think people who write, like me, will keep using Twitter because words are our medium. But for a publisher, I think this chart clearly shows that any marketing for books needs to happen through images, which is what people are spending their time on the Internet looking at.

3. Wait, what's Tumblr again? When marketers talk about social media, usually the conversation is about Facebook and Twitter, then a mention of Google+, Pinterest, and maybe Instagram. I rarely hear anything about Tumblr. But it's #3 in size, and now it's connected to Yahoo!, one of the best content-creators on the Internet. Publishers, take note.

What do you think of this purchase? Good idea? Not so good? Will it change your social media habits?

Images courtesy of lonelysandwich via flickr and the Atlantic