Tag: blogging

WordPress is absolutely a tool that can (and given…

WordPress is absolutely a tool that can (and given the state of the tools they were previously using, should) be used by Ye Olde Media Guarde. We’ve even made some steps toward supporting a basic editorial workflow with the Contributor role (which can submit posts for review, but not publish them). But using WordPress in that way is like using a computer to print a letter and then fax it to your recipient. It feels like an artificial restriction. We’ve empowered individuals to publish what they want to publish, when they want to publish. Reinstating the print media workflows of the last century very much feels like a step backwards. Writers got a taste of true publishing freedom. Readers got a taste of what it’s like to actually have a connection and conversation with a writer instead of just being delivered their words. We can’t pretend that didn’t happen.

Mark Jaquith

Facebook post has a shelf life of 18 hours

Once in a while people ask me why do I still have my own, personal, standalone blog instead of just posting to some social networks.  There are a few reasons to that, and one of the is the life span of the post.  Blog posts live practically forever.  I think, I’ve even mentioned before that the homepage of my blog is not even in the top 5 visited pages of the site – older posts, sometimes even from years ago – are staying at the top of the chart.  With social networks, posts disappear pretty quickly.  None of the social networks that I’m familiar with – Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and others – provide any decent way of working with archives.  They are more focused on the “now”, and I’ve known it for years.  But it’s always good to find a confirmation of your own beliefs.  Today, via this tweet, I came across this blog post that references the study that states 18 hours is a shelf life of a Facebook post.

This might come as a bit of a shock to brands who pour their heart and souls into putting together the best Facebook posts that will get people talking and sharing for days. A recent study shows that the average shelf life of a Facebook post is just 18 hours. We thought we were in a 24/7 culture when it comes to online, but even 24 hours it seems, is now a bit of a stretch.

The findings come from a study by OMD, who studied how long people continued to actively engage with a post after it was made.  Off the back of the announcement that pages will only reach about 16% of their fans through postings, this is particularly unwelcome news.

WordPress + Tumblr, and thinking behind

Matt Mullenweg, insightful as always:

While the tech press often likes to paint companies in a similar market as competing in a zero sum game, the reality is that all are growing rapidly and services feed each other and cross-pollinate more than anyone gives them credit for. Tumblr built a dashboard reader product that has tons of pageviews and lots of followers, which can provide distribution for blogs much in the same way Facebook and Twitter do. (Its 85%-on-dashboard-centric usage looks more like a social network than a blogging network, actually.) WordPress has fantastic content that people on Tumblr love, and Tumblr has a rich and diverse content and curation community that can drive new visitors to WordPress — it’s like peanut butter and chocolate.

It’s true that we’re becoming simpler and more streamlined and it’s a process driven by our design vision and our community, not what any particular competitor is doing. WordPress has always flourished because it’s a hassle-free digital hub — a home on the web you can control, customize, and truly own due to the fact that it’s Open Source software. WordPress is the antidote to walled gardens.