Category: Blogging

Are You Suffering From Content Overload?

Think, for just a moment, about how you consume most of the content you’re exposed to today. Do you still read the newspaper? Watch TV? And how do you do those things? If you give it some thought, you’ll realize that the way you consume media has changed pretty dramatically—and you probably never even knew you were taking part in a major content evolution . Sure, you’ve heard about the switch to digital and you realize that you read the news online instead of subscribing to the local print edition. But the way we consume all types of media has evolved drastically in just a few short years. Gone are the days of dial-up Internet—today, we don’t even wait a few seconds for a page to load before we bounce, disgusted, and look for another source capable of providing us with the same information in an acceptable timeframe. Consumers today demand instant gratification, whether you’re talking about music, movies, the news or even books. Everything is digital. And we’re accessing all that information on the go. Find out more about the content evolution—and how up to speed you are on today’s technologies—by checking out the infographic below. TorchBrowser is a free and unique software that offers you powerful browsing together with built-in media downloading and sharing features. Find out more about Torchbrowser.com: the best Web browser .

Ten Good Years for WordPress

It’s been ten years since we started this thing, and what a long way we’ve come. From a discussion between myself and Mike Little about forking our favorite blogging software , to powering 18% of the web. It’s been a crazy, exciting, journey, and one that won’t stop any time soon. At ten years, it’s fun to reflect on our beginnings. We launched WordPress on 27th May 2003, but that wasn’t inception. Go back far enough, and you can read a post by Michel Valdrighi who, frustrated by the self-hosted blogging platforms available, decided to write his own software; “b2, a PHP+MySQL alternative to Blogger and GreyMatter.” b2 was easy to install, easy to configure, and easy for developers to extend. Of all the blogging platforms out there, b2 was the right one for me: I could write my content and get it on the web quickly and painlessly. Sometimes, however, life gets in the way. In 2002, Michel stopped maintaining b2. Over time, security flaws became apparent and updates were needed and, while the b2 community could write patches and fixes, no one was driving the software forward. We were lucky that Michel decided to release b2 under the GPL; the software may have been abandoned, but we weren’t without options. A fork was always a possibility. That was where it stood in January 2003, when I posted about forking b2 and Mike responded . The rest, as they say, is history. From the very beginning to the present day, I’ve been impressed by the thought, care, and dedication that WordPress’ developers have demonstrated. Each one has brought his or her unique perspective, each individual has strengthened the whole. It would be impossible to thank each of them here individually, but their achievements speak for themselves. In WordPress […]

The Right Way to Disclose Sponsored Content

On any social media platform, please ensure your disclosure statement precedes any hyperlink or link. The FTC requires that the relationship between you and the brand or program sponsor, occur before a reader is redirected to another site or page. Therefore, you must disclose before any links. The disclosure statement must appear within the content; the disclosure itself cannot be a link to another page or site. You have the following options for blog posts: Include disclosure statement at the beginning of your post. Weave disclosure into the opening sentences of your post. When posting campaign-related content to Facebook and Twitter, please use “sponsored” and make sure it appears before any link. The abbreviated version “spon” falls short of the FTC’s revised standard. The other FTC option “ad” doesn’t accurately represent the context of our campaigns. The complete FTC policy can be seen here . The FTC’s example #17 (on page 46) and example #21 (on page 51) help provide context and best illustrate what not to do. As clarification comes with real examples, we’ll keep you updated on any future changes for our campaigns.   Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions.