news

Latest comScore report on social networking sites

Comscore September 2007Interesting to see the latest September 2007 report from comScore.

WSJ.com talks about Google’s Orkut success internationally, but also the challenges in monetizing Orkut:

In the third quarter of this year, 48% of Google’s revenue came from outside the U.S., up from 43% in 2006 and 39% in 2005. Thanks partly to the fact that Brazilians are some of the most active Internet users in the world, Orkut now has about as much global overall traffic, or “page views,” as Google’s top-ranked search engine, according to data from comScore Inc.

And SeekingAlpha points out the changing landscape in the blogging world.

Gravatar now part of Automattic

Gravtar logoThe avatar service Gravatar was acquired by our company Automattic today.

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80Ă—80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

Overall it’s a real good fit for us, and I’m excited about our future plans. More details here.

WordCamp Israel 2007

WordCamp Israel

One of the great things about WordPress is seeing how it’s being used around the world. From the various language translations to hosted versions the level of engagement and creativity is super impressive.

A great example is what’s happening in Israel. The WordPress community in Israel is now organizing a WordCamp (english blog) on Oct 25th, 2007 in Tel Aviv. I’m sure it’s going to be a great event, and looking forward to seeing when the next one will be held — I’d love to attend 🙂

From their blog:

About WordCamp Israel
WordCamp is coming to Israel on Oct. 25 in Tel Aviv! Lorelle is the keynote speaker, and the lectures and panels will be covering topics like WordPress installation, blogging for business, and more.

WordPress 2.3 “Dexter” now available

WordPressGo grab version 2.3.

What’s new you ask ? From the WordPress.Org development blog:

 

  1. Native tagging support allows you to use tags in addition to categories on your post, if you so choose. We’ve included importers for the Ultimate Tag Warrior, Jerome’s Keywords, Simple Tags, and Bunny’s Technorati Tag plugins so if you’ve already been using a tagging plugin you can bring your data into the new system. The tagging system is also wicked-fast, so your host won’t mind.
  2. Our new update notification lets you know when there is a new release of WordPress or when any of the plugins you use has an update available. It works by sending your blog URL, plugins, and version information to our new api.wordpress.org service which then compares it to the plugin database and tells you what the latest and greatest is you can use.
  3. We’ve cleaned up URLs a bunch in a feature we call canonical URLs which does things like enforce your no-www preference, redirect posts with changed slugs so a link never goes bad, redirect URLs that get cut off in emails on similar to the correct post, and much more. This helps your users, and it also helps your search engine optimization, as search engines like for each page to be available in one canonical location.
  4. Our new pending review feature will be great for multi-author blogs. It allows authors to submit a post for review by an editor or administrator, where before they would just have to save a draft and hope someone noticed it.
  5. There is new advanced WYSIWYG functionality (we call it the kitchen sink button) that allows you to access some features of TinyMCE that were previously hidden.

     

    WordPress.com Facebook App

    Joseph Scott just posted on WordPress.com that the new facebook app is ready to go.

    Blogs are one of the ways the Internet has fostered greater communication among people than ever before. Social network sites like Facebook provide a more structured way to keep up with specific people. Wouldn’t it be great if you could mix the two?

    With the new WordPress.com Facebook App you can do exactly that.

    Definitely go check it out.

    Thanks Dow Jones, Hello Automattic !

    Automattic logo

    I wrapped up at Dow Jones Online last week, and today is my first official day at Automattic !

    I just want to say thanks to Dow Jones. It’s been an incredibly rewarding time working at Dow Jones Online, and I’m tremendously proud of all that we accomplished from the various search initiatives, allthingsD.com, to all things multiplatform with mobile, RSS, and widgets.

    Dow Jones is truly an amazing company, and it was great to be in the presence of colleagues who were incredibly hard working and dedicated to their work.

    For those who may not know, Automattic is a remarkable company. The team is smart, passionate, and well respected. How we work is probably a bit different than most companies, and the incredible growth of one of our core offerings — wordpress.com, is impressive 🙂

    wordpress.com traffic

    As a WordPress user from the pre 1.0 days, ( Ver .71 or .72 is when I started following the progress closely ), I’m very exited to be working with Matt, Toni, Barry, and the team.

    In July, I’ll be attending WordCamp 2007, so hope to see many of you there. Feel free to drop me a line if you plan to attend.

    Webby Awards 2007 in NYC: thoughts

    webby I was at the webby awards in downtown new york city the other night with a few colleagues, as our site, WSJ.com, was awarded in the Financial Services category.

    It was a pretty interesting night. My quick thoughts, and some coverage.

    – Rob Cordrey was hillarious ! His humor is definitely an acquired taste for some — but I thought he did a great job.

    – Any event with the Beastie Boys is a big plus !

    – Award shows usually showcase the content – be it movies, shows, music, etc. Not in this case. Not a single web site, advertising campaign,or any interactive piece of content was shown on the large screens.

    – Great to get everyone organized at an event — but lacked a theme or a cause. With all the talent and smarts in the large hall, it was a missed opportunity to tackle something big.

    – Limiting the acceptance speeches to 5 words was brilliant. In that vain, the best acceptance speech was from Mike Hudak of blip.tv in the broadband category. He turned to Rob Cordrey and said: “you’re much funnier on the daily show “ ( 7 words, but nobody was really counting )
    Other coverage:

    Vallewyag: Obituary The Webbys

    I’ve vowed never to attend another Webby Awards for as long as I’ve been going to the show. After last night’s 2007 gala, it’s finally time to burn the bridges. The whole concept has always been slightly absurd: an Oscars-style show for an industry that has little glamor; with a nomination process that rewards organizations with good publicists, or faddish appeal, rather than outstanding achievement. But the revenue-hungry new owners of the Webbys, who took over from founder Tiffany Shlain, have sacrificed the awards’ redeeming quality: the quirky charm she brought.

    Jason Schaeffer has his thoughts on the night.

    The evening had an Oscar-esque aire…with a red carpet, swirlling paparrazi, candle lit tables and a multi media extravaganze. The event was quite long…..4+ hours in total…but the mandatory five word speaches were amusing (and often risque) at times. It was not a crowd I anticipated attending….very corporate..alot of suits and a formal affair…but then again, NYC always seems to be stiff when I am visiting. Probably spent too much time in SF.

    Jane Kratochvil, who is an unbelievably talented photographer, captured some photos from the event:

    Wallstrip now part of the CBS family

    wallstrip

    Congrats to the fantastic team at Wallstrip — Howard, Lindsay, Adam and the rest of the crew. From the CBS press release:

    CBS Interactive today announced the acquisition of Wallstrip, an online property that produces and syndicates a daily webshow focused on financial news. The acquisition was first referenced in Wallstrip’s program this morning.

    Wallstrip has been a must-see for me everyday, and I always point to it as an example of how web video should be created. It’s well produced, takes advantage of the visual medium, teaches me something, and keeps my attention for 2.5 minutes — that’s all I want !

    Howard Lindzon details the incredible journey in his blog post, and Trader Mike has complete coverage here. After only a few months and some seed money they’ve taken their business to the next level.

    The other takeaway that’s very obvious is just how easy Wallstrip made the content consumable and easy to find/subscribe. As you can see in their right nav slogan “Watch Wallstrip where YOU want!”.

    Video: They had their videos on the site (obviosuly), but also on youtube, revver, iTunes, veoh, and other major video platform.

    Widget: They built a widget so any blogger could embed the video.

    SEO: They built the site using WordPress, which has great built in SEO, and they blogged and got links from their great network of colleagues and fans.

    Subscription: They offered up various RSS feeds, myYahoo links, and an email option too.

    Bottom line — they created great content, were smart about distribution and promotion, and chose best of breed technologies and partners.

    Skype for BlackBerry plus others news from WES

    Bunch of interesting news out of the WES conference ( The Wireless Enterprise Symposium) today.

    * Skype for blackberry got announced. Requires a SkypeOut $30/yr plan

    * Next gen Pearl rumors floating around ? ( via blackberrycool.com ):

    * BlackBerry 8830 Curve has a release date in Canada. No word yet on a US date beyond “Spring 2007”.

    for more WES info, BoyGenius is live blogging the event