Comments on: Mark McLaren: WordPress and the Social Web

By: Mark McLaren

Mark McLaren — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:49:54 +0000

Thanks, Nick! You are right: the webmaster is not gone, but her/his responsibilities have changed.

One of the really cool things about WordPress is that, with the help of someone who knows PHP/MySQL, you can extend the capabilities even further, and once that development work is done – and done well – the site can still be updated and built out further by people with little or no coding ability. And because WordPress is open source, those extensions can easily be passed on and used and modified by others. So software still gets out of the way, as Matt Mullenweg puts it, and more people can connect and share online.

By: Nick Young

Nick Young — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:46:50 +0000

I share the same passion towards WordPress and this video sums it up yet again. While I don’t think it has cut out the webmaster completely, it has certainly closed the gap to the point where the learning curve is months instead of years.

By: Mark McLaren

Mark McLaren — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:53:25 +0000

Thanks!

By: Mark McLaren

Mark McLaren — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:52:38 +0000

@scribadiva
Thanks for your comments. It’s true, like Matt Mullenweg put it: “The software should get out of the way.” I feel your pain regarding the Google blog (Blogger.com?). It’s really all about the interactions you can have with readers. That’s how you grow your number of readers! And in turn that’s how you help your readers by giving them a place to express themselves.

Also nice is the fact that, if you decide you don’t like your current WordPress theme, you can switch! Or export the blog and do something else with it.

Google has been making much of its mission to “make the world’s information accessible” to everyone – or those with Internet service, anyway, and also to make it “free” by allowing you to export any information you put into a Google application.

I personally wish that Google would liberate me from YouTube’s first-generation commenting features. (Google owns YouTube.) It’s nearly impossible to interact with people there who leave comments on my video tutorials. I love YouTube video hosting, and I love YouTube video search, but the commenting features are so bad that I can almost never reply to anyone. But the service is free so I’m getting what I pay for in this case.

My dream: As a New Year’s present, Automattic is given the rights to YouTube.

By: The Blogger

The Blogger — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:44:31 +0000

Great Job…

By: scribadiva

scribadiva — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:34:17 +0000

I enjoyed the presentation. You gave me a different perspective. While it seems obvious, it isn’t, and there are so many implications. I have a blog on Google, but I’ve had problems with comments. To me, that’s what it is all about. The comments are embedded, but I want them to show up. So I copy them and paste them in my original post, which can take up time. I don’t think I’ll have this problem. I selected the theme with four columns so I can easily integrate video, music, photos & writing, and I want “my people” to have that same option.
I thought your presentation style was fine, and I was an administrator at a Law School–tough crowd.
Thank you, and I will keep an eye out for your next presentation.

By: Mark McLaren

Mark McLaren — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:14:58 +0000

@rositateacher Thanks for your request. I don't have a longer version of this presentation yet, but I'm working on one. You can use the contact form here on my Business Blogging 101 website to send me your email address and I will let you know when it's ready: http://mcbuzz.wordpress.com/contact-us/

By: rositateacher

rositateacher — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:10:15 +0000

It was great the speech, but I would like to know more about it step by step. Thank you.

By: Mark McLaren

Mark McLaren — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:31:07 +0000

@márty
Glad you liked it. You’ll have to tell me more about “Steve Balmer’s” style. It’s ironic given what I say about the Office 2007 Ribbon Interface.

Regarding turning off comments while at the same time integrating Twitter, etc. That’s a GREAT question! I have clients that turn off comments, too. I figure it’s their blog, and they should be able to use it in whatever way they feel comfortable.

On the other hand, comments are fundamental to the idea of blogging. It’s such a great way to connect with readers and generate fresh keyword-rich content with just a little extra effort. One of my clients says that they don’t have time to moderate comments. But if, like in your case, they are using Twitter, Facebook and the rest, that’s clearly not the issue.

Attitudes about the Web are so idiosyncratic. Everyone has an opinion – rarely based on actual data.

By: márty

márty — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:36:13 +0000

Awesome! Great presentation in “Steve Balmer’s” style. I enjoyed it very much.
I came across similar problem as Bill – my clients requested to turn off all comments etc. on WP sites, but on other hand – they also requested to integrate twitter, myspace, FB etc. into their sites. I spent lots of time with persuading them to “leave at least guestbook enabled”… Any ideas?