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WordPress: 72K blog posts exited Tumblr in 1 hour over Yahoo deal

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg says he usually sees 400 to 600 blog post defections from Tumblr per hour. But that figure apparently skyrocketed after news of the deal surfaced Sunday.

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Don Reisinger
Former CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg
WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg Stephen Shankland/CNET

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg said his company saw a major uptick in Tumblr defections after news of the $1.1 billion acquisition by Yahoo came to light.

Writing on his personal blog Sunday evening, Mullenweg said that WordPress usually imports 400 to 600 blog posts per hour from Tumblr. After news of the deal surfaced, the number of imported posts jumped to more than 72,000 blog posts in an hour.

Mullenweg updated his own blog post on Monday morning. "Some people are reading too much into the import numbers -- I don't think there will be an exodus from Tumblr," he said, adding: "For most folks habits overcome internet-outrage. Even if a million people left, that's just about a week's worth of signups."

A number of Tumblr users are apparently concerned about what the future holds for their beloved service and are importing posts to WordPress at a rapid clip. However, Tumblr reports that it adds 75 million blog posts per day.

Yahoo confirmed the $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition this morning. It's an all-cash deal that should close in the second half of the year.

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