Have you tried WordPress 3.2 yet? If so, how do you like it?

The newest version actually arrived on July 4th, which is, of course, Independence Day for those of us here in America. Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress, told us that the timing was fitting since it celebrated the independent Web on Independence Day.

“At the core, open source is about freedom – it’s the freedom to run the software for any purpose, it’s the freedom to be able to get under the hood and modify any code you want, and the freedom to really do whatever you like with the software. So, celebrating that on a day when America also celebrates its freedom seemed great,” he said.

As for the specifics of WordPress 3.2, there are several new features and improvements. As mentioned earlier, the focus of this version was to make it “faster and lighter.” To meet this goal, WordPress made over 400 bug fixes and improvements, most of which had to do with performance.

“Before people even notice a new design, often they notice just how much faster it loads,” said Mullenweg.

The new design is very clean and focuses on the essential elements. Mullenweg said they wanted to ensure that “every single pixel on the screen had a purpose and was there for a reason.”

Another new feature of WordPress 3.2 is its “distraction-free writing,” or “zen mode” as Mullenweg likes to call it. This is his favorite feature of the release because everything fades out except the text, giving the writer the ability to completely focus his thoughts.

“When you’re using WordPress, it’s a tool. What’s really most important is your writing,” he said.

WordPress additionally released the HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, which is part of its plan to reveal a new theme every year. This theme, in particular, includes a big header, dynamic menu systems, and it also posts different content types with the new post format feature. The HTML5 aspect preserves readability and design elements of WordPress blogs and sites when they are opened on laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Mullenweg also told us that HTML5 would be the way to the future.

WordPress 3.2 is also known as “Gershwin,” in honor of the renowned composer and pianist George Gershwin. Mullenweg explained to us that there was a “dynamic range in both the tonality and the tempo” in “Rhapsody in Blue.” He went on to say that WordPress 3.2 “embodies that” since “there’s something for everyone.”

While the majority of people appear to be giving the new version of WordPress good reviews, Chester Wisniewski, a Senior Security Advisor with Sophos, indicated in a post that he would like to see more security. In response to this, Mullenweg said, “Security is not a feature, it’s a process. And so, it’s not something that we can just tack on.”

He further explained that it was an ongoing process that involved continuing audits, reviews, and responses. He believes firmly in responding quickly to incidents in order to let users know about a problem.

“No matter what you try or how hard you do [it], there will always be an issue somewhere,” he said. “What we try to embody in WordPress is we don’t sweep security under the rug.”

Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com actually experienced security issues earlier this year, but Mullenweg assured us that they had been resolved due largely to early detection.

On the topic competition, he told us that WordPress receives over 1,000 bloggers each day from Google’s Blogger. Since Mashable reported that Google would change the name of “Blogger” to “Google Blogs,” we asked him if he expected more bloggers from Google, if, in fact, this report comes true. In response, he said, “I would love to welcome more of those people to the WordPress family.”

He was quick to point out that he would never “discount Google” or “downplay” its service. He thinks that Google has been very innovative lately and said that he would like to see them integrate their blogging platform into Google+. However, he does wish that they would make their platform open.

“I hope that they make that platform open, so the people who choose to host and run their own software using WordPress will have the same access to the social features in Google+, or whatever it is, through APIs, as Blogger users will,” he said. “I think Google will do the right thing.”

In terms of WordPress.com, there has been some speculation regarding the rapid growth of Tumblr. Recent reports show that Tumblr has more than 20.9 million blogs, and that WordPress.com has just slightly over 20.8 million. However, recent statistics show that there are 50 million WordPress sites in total.

Mullenweg told us that they take Tumblr seriously and that they even incorporated some similar features into WordPress 3.2. The WordPress platform has always been about giving users control and flexibility, and he said they would continue to meet this goal.

Believe it or not, the WordPress team is already working on WordPress 3.3. Mullenweg couldn’t tell us much about it, but he did say, “it’s gonna be fun.”

Can you imagine ever reading only social media updates and no blogs? Share your thoughts.

"Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter," writes Verne G. Kopytoff. "They are losing their allure for many people — particularly the younger generation."

WebProNewsIs blogging on the decline thanks to social networks?17 hours ago 4 likes 12 comments

This idea that blogs are dying has been around practically as long as either Facebook or Twitter, and it almost always gets dismissed as a ridiculous notion.

WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg took some issue with the piece: "The title was probably written by an editor, not the author, because as soon as the article gets past the two token teenagers who tumble and Facebook instead of blogging, the stats show all the major blogging services growing — even Blogger whose global ‘unique visitors rose 9 percent, to 323 million,’ meaning it grew about 6 Foursquares last year alone. (In the same timeframe WordPress.com grew about 80 million uniques according to Quantcast.)"

In fact, in 2010, WordPress had over 6 million new blogs created in 2010, and pageviews were up by 53%.

The New York Times itself even has a whole directory of blogs:

"Blogging has legs — it’s been growing now for more than a decade, but it’s not a ‘new thing’ anymore," says Mullenweg. "Underneath the data in the article there’s an interesting super-trend that the Times misses: people of all ages are becoming more and more comfortable publishing online."

Major web content forces like AOL and Demand Media recognize the power of blogs. AOL is buying them, and Demand recently launched a blog syndication program. 

As is established every time this debate comes up, blogging and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter complement one another. End of story. Without blogs, people would have less interesting content to share on Facebook and Twitter. Without Facebook and Twitter, bloggers would have a harder time getting the readers. 

Kopytoff does make a critical point, however. The lines aren’t always crystal clear about what is truly "blogging" and what isn’t. Even Twitter use is often called "microblogging". 

"The blurring of lines is readily apparent among users of Tumblr," says Kopytoff. "Although Tumblr calls itself a blogging service, many of its users are unaware of the description and do not consider themselves bloggers — raising the possibility that the decline in blogging by the younger generation is merely a semantic issue."

People blog on Facebook all the time too. They call them "notes". No matter where it’s happening, blogging is not going away. You can call it what you want, but people will continue to put their thoughts into words and publish them online. Sometimes, they’ll even do it in more than 140 characters. Some people even think Twitter should expand their character limit.

Are you blogging less because of Facebook and Twitter? Let us know. 

Original
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/shorten/

Shortend Version
http://wp.me/sf2B5-shorten

Will you use the new WP.me URL shortener? Tell us.

What’s so special about WP.me, besides the link being 70% shorter? Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, updated the WordPress blog where he sheds some light on some key features:

• WP.me is the only two-letter .me domain in the world.
• Every blog and post on WordPress.com has a WP.me URL now.
• These are all exposed in the <head> using rel=shortlink.
• It doesn’t work for any URL in the world, just WP.com-hosted ones.
• The links are permanent, they will work as long as WordPress.com is around.
• WP.me is spam-free, because we are constantly monitoring and removing spam from WP.com.

Matt goes on to say:

"I think a few of these points are worth following up on. While URL shorteners have had some incredible usage tied to the growth (and constraints) of Twitter, I question their sustainability as a business. This point was underscored a few days ago when a popular one, tr.im, announced they were going to shut down at the end of the year.

Their story had a happy ending in that someone came in and saved them, but it was hard not to think of what would have happened if all their links stopped redirecting one day: part of the web would go dark. I also worry that because shorteners are essentially open proxies of HTTP they’ll be exploited by spammers and malware distributors to the point where businesses, anti-phishing, and anti-virus services will be forced to block them.”

With popular micro-blogging site Twitter gaining so much popularity this year, will people still find time for WordPress? It’s unclear at this point, but by the looks of things, some people are already using WP.me.

Do you think WordPress has lost some bloggers to Twitter? Let us know what you think.

"Now whenever you do a post you’ll be a few clicks away from having your own poll, and you can have as many as you like!" says WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg. "We’re also going to be working on a lot more styles and customization of the polls, so you’ll be able to match it exactly to the look and feel of your blog." PollDaddy contains the following features:

"For a year or two now, I’ve been minorly obsessed with polls and surveys as a method of lightweight interaction that engages casual users of your website and also can get you some really fun data to play with," says Mulleneg. "I’ve also mentioned at a few WordCamps that a polling plugin is one of the top 10 WordPress plugins in the world. Polls are really popular with WordPress users."

There’s no doubt that polls can be a great way to inspire audience participation (or user engagement if you will). They can be great way to come up with interesting statistics (more so for more popular blogs) and get feedback from readers about your blog itself, which can then lead to improvements. Polls make for a nice interactive element that people often just happen to find fun.

With so many of the Blogosphere’s blogs running on WordPress, PollDaddy could potentially have an impact on a great number of them. For a nice demo on how PollDaddy for WordPress works, check out the video below.

 Matt Mullenweg

On BuddyPress.com, a single line of text states, "BuddyPress will transform a vanilla installation of WordPress MU into a social network platform."  In a post on his blog, Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, explain why this idea is of interest to him.

"It’s clear that the future is social," Mullenweg writes.  "Connections are key.  WordPress MU is a platform which has shown itself to be able to operate at Internet-scale and with BuddyPress we can make it friendlier.  Someday, perhaps, the world will have a truly Free and Open Source alternative to the walled gardens and open-only-in-API platforms that currently dominate our social landscape."

With the implication being that Automattic and BuddyPress might be the ones to bring the alternative into existence.

We’re not there yet, though, and Mullenweg didn’t say anything further on the matter.  Also left unsaid are BuddyPress’s purchase price and the terms under which its creator, Andy Peatling, agreed to work for Automattic.

Matt Mullenweg – Developer Of WordPress

During an appearance at the Future of Web Apps conference, Mullenweg stated that WordPress powers 2,523,000 blogs.  Also, as Caroline McCarthy wrote, "WordPress has deleted more than 800,000 ‘splogs,’ or spam blogs."

Divide the second number by the first, multiply by 100, and you get 31.7 percent.  Almost one-third, if you round up, or three out of ten, if you’d prefer to round down.  That’s high, and that’s ignoring McCarthy’s "more than" and the possibility that WordPress missed some splogs.

Still, Dan Frommer, who inspired this little analysis, pointed out that things could be worse.  "Anti-spam software firm Commtouch says 96% of global emails are junk," he wrote.

Let’s just hope blog spammers don’t take the comparison as a challenge.

First and foremost, you want readers. But how do you get them there? I had a nice chat with two well-known bloggers who gave several helpful tips relating to blog comments.

Leo Laporte, host of TWiT.tv and blogger of Leoville.com, told me a few pointers for driving traffic to your blog:

1.    Have good content
2.    Update your blog regularly
3.    Present it well
4.    Have a clear point of view and clear speech
5.    Participate in other blogs, conferences, and forums
6.    Use social media tools

Another important point relating to blog comments is how to get readers to comment. Matt Mullenweg, the Founding Developer of WordPress and blogger of photomatt.net, echoes Laporte’s word that content should be solid and well written. He also suggests leaving your content open-ended. According to Mullenweg, readers are likely to respond if this criteria is met.

What happens if someone leaves a negative comment? Everyone’s first instinct is to delete anything negative, but is that always right?

Laporte and Mullenweg both believe some negative comments are good. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and if they choose to share it, they have that right even if you disagree with them.

The experts say it is appropriate to remove a comment if it is not intelligent and is slanderous to the blogger. However, if all the comments on the blog are positive and praise the blogger, it could turn readers away and result in low traffic and few or no comments.

Laporte points out that it is a good idea to have a set of commenting guidelines. Let the readers know if you do not allow racist, homophobic, or obscene comments. It is also good to specify what age group the audience is.

To find out more information on blogging and blog comments, tune into the WebProNews video, “A Few Comments on Commenting…”

Now we know why Matt Mullenweg could be so generous with the added storage at WordPress. His company received its second round of venture funding as the Times joined existing investors in pumping up Automattic’s coffers.

“Automattic is now positioned to execute on our vision of a better web not just in blogging, but expanding our investment in anti-spam, identity, wikis, forums, and more – small, open source pieces, loosely joined with the same approach and philosophy that has brought us this far,” Mullenweg said on his blog.

Om Malik noted some of the investment round would be used to give Automattic’s founders and other senior management types the chance to cash in some of their holdings. Doing so gives those folks motivation to stick around until the bigger payday arrives.

WordPress has an impressive collection of companies using its platform for blogging, including the Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and other big media properties.

Automattic CEO Toni Schneider said this round of financing helps the company achieve a couple of goals: financial security, and the further development of other products like the Akismet spam filter.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/times-helps-post-295m-to-wordpress-2008-01/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/wordpress-pumps-up-the-storage-2008-01 http://www.webpronews.com/wordpress-pumps-up-the-storage-2008-01#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:58:30 +0000 WebProNews Staff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=43540 Storage space at WordPress.com became more plentiful after Matt Mullenweg announced a big increase for free accounts to 3GB.

WebProNews presents videos and stories from the BlogWorld & New Media Expo taking place in Las Vegas. View our interviews and coverage of the event.

Mullenweg wasn’t self-centered, though; instead, he gave advice that could benefit everyone.  “There’s a million different ways to approach your blog, but you have to find what you love,” Mullenweg advised listeners.  “There’s other people out there like you, and they will find you and love your blog.”

More concrete suggestions included a tip to use Google’s and Technorati’s tools – they may help you get noticed.

Still, not everything’s foolproof.  On the subject of Automattic, Mullenweg was humble enough to state, “Hopefully we will stay alive.”  And assuming survival occurs, he plans to keep the company “as small as possible.”

As for that well-known blogging software, Mullenweg readily admitted that there are “parts of WordPress that suck” (such as its spellchecker).  But in looking to the future, he believes that writing itself is “the soul of WordPress,” and merely wants to see the software used in different ways and on different platforms.

WebProNews Video anchor Abby Prince contributed to this report.