Blogging goes ballistic
WORDPRESS FOUNDER MATT MULLENWEG TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF WEB PUBLISHING
MATT Mullenweg, cofounder of popular blogging platform WordPress and chief executive of Automattic, has made an indelible footprint on the Internet and blogging universe. He is said to have democratized web publishing, which led to an enormous transformation on how people share information.
Mullenweg has a net worth of $40 million. His company Automattic, which powers open source blogging platform WordPress, is valued at $1.16 billion. Wordpress, which has 60 million websites, powers 22 percent of the web.
Many people are more familiar with the free WordPress website (prompting them to wonder how the company earns). Then there are those who “purchase” the platform and use it in their own sites or WordPress’ “enterprise option.”
The Philippines is Mullenweg’s last stop for his Asian tour that entails the launching of full language translation feature, hiring people from other countries, and opening of data centers in the region.
Incidentally, Mullen- weg announced the employment of Davao-based blogger and entrepreneur, Andrew dela Serna, as WordPress’ happiness engineer.
Globe Telecom recently hosted a media roundtable and bloggers’ night for Mullenweg at the Globe Tower, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
Digital journalism
Purists dismiss blogging as anything but journalism. However, there are print or broadcast journalists who have been using the online platform for quite some time now. And it is not only because one can post any update real time but also because, according to Mullenweg, there is transparency in blogging.
“If I was online, I would immediately see everyone responding to it. I would see the comments, the Twitter stream, or I would see the whole dialogue. But if I have the paper, all I see is one side of the story. That is one thing that blogging started, and all major media is either embracing or (turning away from) two-way conversation.
“I actually trust things I read online more,” he explained, “not because blogs online are more trustworthy than the Wall Street Journal, but as a whole I think the Internet collectively is more trustworthy.”
Mullenweg noted that some of his “favorite users in WordPress are the journalists, and those from the newspapers.”
Depending on which side one is on, Mullenweg may be a “redeemer” or a “slayer.” His innovative vision cannot be “blamed” for the decline of print or other platforms. What WordPress does is allow an ordinary individual to express him or herself and be a bearer or messenger of news. It also allows people to put up instantly their objections or agreement to what has been posted.
A number of media companies have been using the WordPress platform for some time now.
Blogging vs “microblogging”
Twitter “markets” itself as a microblogging news site. There was also a time when people said that blogging is losing on Twitter. But Mullenweg believes that people are hungrier than ever for meaty content.
“Ever since I started WordPress, people have been saying that blogging is dead,” he said.
And with the proliferation of various social networking platforms, people have concluded then that blogging would soon meet its demise.
“But all these things make blogging stronger because they serve as a distribution network,” he explained.
“When you make a blog post and it goes out to Twitter and Facebook you see more traffic as it goes out to your social network. Social networks actually love blogs because the best content isn’t being created on them. They are complementary.”
Mullenweg, however, prefers long form reading to tweets.
“I try to read more and more long form every day, and it actually makes a big difference in my life,” he shared. “When I wake up in the morning, before I look at Twitter and e-mail or anything, I read at least
one chapter of a book even before I get out of bed, and I find that it sets my mind in a better place where I can focus better throughout the day.”
According to Mullenweg, his company recently acquired Longreads “because we believe so strongly that of all the different mediums that you can publish on, WordPress is one of the best to have great content. And people are hungry for it, so I love it as well.”
Longreads is an online site for writers to share their fiction and nonfiction stories with fellow writers and interested readers.
Mobile
While many companies are racing to have mobile presence, Mullenweg seems to be unimpressed.
“I think mobile is very important so we need to have better integration on touch devices as easy as we have on the web,” he said. “We have a long way to go as there is a big gap right now, as WordPress on the web is one of the best in the world while WordPress on mobile is not so much. The focus here will always be on the user experience—what will be the fastest and the most efficient.”
Mullenweg built WordPress in 2003 when he was still studying Political Science at the University of Houston. Like many game-changers, he quit school and worked full-time on his online venture. He established Automattic in 2005 to develop publishing platforms such as WordPress.com website and the VIP WordPress.com cloud version.