Tumblr images will soon be scanned for brand affiliation

Every day, users post about 130 million photos on Tumblr. Starting this week, the Yahoo-owned media brand will start to parse all those images for clues to users’ brand affiliations. Tumblr is inking a deal this week with Ditto Labs, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm that has analyzed photos posted on social media for brand-related data. That doesn’t mean that if you post a selfie with a Coke bottle in the background that you’ll start seeing ads for Coke. “Right now, we’re not planning to do anything ad-related,” says T.R. Newcomb, head of business development at Tumblr. Instead, Ditto’s data will be available to advertisers who want to grok how they are perceived on the platform. “If Coke wants to understand the nature of the conversation [about them on Tumblr] Ditto can sift through and deliver it to Coke,” Newcomb says.