Twice-acquired blogging site Tumblr announced that its Tumblr Labs division will launch an open beta for its “Communities” feature, which gives users a dedicated space outside of Tumblr's main dashboard to connect with others on various topics. The open beta comes six months after Communities launched in closed beta and marks a shift in focus for the social platform under new parent company Automattic, developer of WordPress.com.
Tumblr communities are “semi-private” spaces with their own moderators, rules, and privacy settings, similar to Reddit subreddits and X (formerly Twitter) communities that are now used as training grounds for AI.
Users can now request to have their communities added to the waitlist. According to Tumblr Labs, there are currently over 5,800 communities on the waitlist, and they plan to work through the list as quickly as possible to open the experience to more users.
The test feature adds a social networking aspect to Tumblr, moving beyond the company's core concept of blogging and publishing and allowing it to compete with platforms like X and Reddit.
Tumblr began testing Communities after hearing from users that they wanted a better way to connect with people who share similar interests. The new feature means users no longer have to search through blogs focused on specific topics to find content that interests them, but can instead join communities.
According to Tumblr, Communities can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, Communities can be a place for fans of a particular TV show, artist, or book series to come together. You can also use Communities to create a dedicated space for a school, book club, group of friends, etc.