Liveblogging: Blogworld Opening Keynote (Matt Mullenweg Interview) by Jeff Caylor on 11/08/2007 at 12:07 PM

I know this is out of the ordinary for this blog, but I have a feeling a lot of blog readers around here have blogs too. If you do, there's a good chance you're on the Wordpress platform. If so, you might be especially interested in what's going on this morning. Here are some play-by-play updates of the interview of Matt Mullenweg (Wordpress Originator) by Ed Sussman from Fast Company magazine.

8:45a

Matt Mullenweg discussing how his company, Automattic, relates to the Open Source blogging platform Wordpress, which he also created.

The money comes in from the Akismet spam solution and paid accounts on wordpress.com.

Wordpress.com is one of the top 25 sites in the US. Eighteen people run this thing.

How do you support this site with such a small staff? “It takes a lot of caffeine."

Wordpress.com enjoyed 100 Million uniques last month. Wow.

“I blog for the comments. I could say something dumb on this stage and no one will tell me. If I say something dumb on my blog, lots of people will tell me.” Interesting take on blogging.

Could there be a worse place to have a keynote? We’re on the convention center floor, sectioned off by some curtains. The ambient noise is awful and the sound system is intermittent.

“When I think about hiring someone and they have a blog, I’ll read 6 months of their archives." Word to the wise: be careful what you put on your myspace!

9:12a

Matt is saying "audiocasting" instead of podcasting. Fascinating avoidance of 'the brand.'

9:17a

Talking about what Matt likes about Craigslist and its ability to stay true to its roots.

"If you ask Craig Newmark why [craigslist.org] doesn't use ads, he will tell you 'because the users didn't ask for it.'"

Audience Question: What is the mission of Wordpress. What is driving you forward?

Matt Mullenweg's answer: We're trying to create a tool that the world can publish with, for free, and the way we measure success is by how many people use Wordpress.

9:28a

They are discussing the ethical issues around blogging for a cause or for compensation that isn't openly expressed.

Discussing how articles in traditional media are often misleading or flat-out wrong. Are bloggers more accurate because they blog about things with which they are more familiar? Don't a lot of bloggers blog about hot topics and traffic generating topics too?

Matt says "Sponsoring posts without disclosure could kill the blogosphere."

9:35a

For a forward-thinking conference, the music is sure outdated.

Wrapping up with a Fast Company pitch.

Liveblogging: Blogworld Opening Keynote (Matt Mullenweg Interview) by Jeff Caylor on 11/08/2007 at 12:07 PM

I know this is out of the ordinary for this blog, but I have a feeling a lot of blog readers around here have blogs too. If you do, there's a good chance you're on the Wordpress platform. If so, you might be especially interested in what's going on this morning. Here are some play-by-play updates of the interview of Matt Mullenweg (Wordpress Originator) by Ed Sussman from Fast Company magazine.

8:45a

Matt Mullenweg discussing how his company, Automattic, relates to the Open Source blogging platform Wordpress, which he also created.

The money comes in from the Akismet spam solution and paid accounts on wordpress.com.

Wordpress.com is one of the top 25 sites in the US. Eighteen people run this thing.

How do you support this site with such a small staff? “It takes a lot of caffeine."

Wordpress.com enjoyed 100 Million uniques last month. Wow.

“I blog for the comments. I could say something dumb on this stage and no one will tell me. If I say something dumb on my blog, lots of people will tell me.” Interesting take on blogging.

Could there be a worse place to have a keynote? We’re on the convention center floor, sectioned off by some curtains. The ambient noise is awful and the sound system is intermittent.

“When I think about hiring someone and they have a blog, I’ll read 6 months of their archives." Word to the wise: be careful what you put on your myspace!

9:12a

Matt is saying "audiocasting" instead of podcasting. Fascinating avoidance of 'the brand.'

9:17a

Talking about what Matt likes about Craigslist and its ability to stay true to its roots.

"If you ask Craig Newmark why [craigslist.org] doesn't use ads, he will tell you 'because the users didn't ask for it.'"

Audience Question: What is the mission of Wordpress. What is driving you forward?

Matt Mullenweg's answer: We're trying to create a tool that the world can publish with, for free, and the way we measure success is by how many people use Wordpress.

9:28a

They are discussing the ethical issues around blogging for a cause or for compensation that isn't openly expressed.

Discussing how articles in traditional media are often misleading or flat-out wrong. Are bloggers more accurate because they blog about things with which they are more familiar? Don't a lot of bloggers blog about hot topics and traffic generating topics too?

Matt says "Sponsoring posts without disclosure could kill the blogosphere."

9:35a

For a forward-thinking conference, the music is sure outdated.

Wrapping up with a Fast Company pitch.

Comments

[1. Glen said the following at 1:16 PM on Nov 8:]

1

Thanks for sharing this post. You can share all of your posts from the conference with people who either couldn't attend or had conflicting sessions by tagging your posts "blogworld07" and they'll show up at HitchHikr. Have a great conference!

[1. Glen said the following at 1:16 PM on Nov 8:]

1

Thanks for sharing this post. You can share all of your posts from the conference with people who either couldn't attend or had conflicting sessions by tagging your posts "blogworld07" and they'll show up at HitchHikr. Have a great conference!