WEEK 1 ‘Is WordPress a blog or a social network site?’

 

WordPress is both a blog and a social network

 #MDA20009

Image resource：https://wordpress.org/about/security/

How many people read WordPress?

More than 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month (Wordpress,2022).

How many posts are being posted?

 Users post about 70 million new posts and 77 million new comments a month (Wordpress,2022).

 

WordPress is both a blog and a social network.

A blog is a social media site that functions as an online journal, displaying content in chronological order (Minaev, 2021). It can also be used to express the opinions of individuals or groups (Minaev, 2021). The blog's primary purpose is to link bloggers with relevant audiences to boost their visibility (Minaev, 2021). In the case of WordPress, the firm was formed in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little（Moss，2014）. In the beginning, it was a simple platform for publishing and hosting essential blogs on the Internet (Hendrickson, 2020). WordPress users can post material, participate in discussions, and interact with one another. Social media platforms were used initially to connect with friends and family. As a result, businesses adopted the same strategy to communicate with their customers.

 

For this reason, the value of blogging as a social media platform lies in its ability to connect and exchange information with anyone on the planet or a massive number of people simultaneously (Dollarhide, 2021). The social media framework assures everyone has equal access to information and is safeguarded in their interactions, as social media platforms have ushered in a new public domain era (Kruse et al., 2018 P63-P64). As a result, I think of WordPress as a blogging platform.

 

As well as social networks are web services provided by Boyd and Ellison (2007, p. 211) that help users keep "public or semi-public information in a limited system" through which they can "express lists of connections with other users they share it with" (Murthy, 2013, p. 7). By using social networking technology, personal and business relationships can be developed and maintained. These sites allow people and companies to connect to establish relationships and share information (Kenton, 2022). Therefore, in the case of WordPress, social interaction can be experienced in a digital environment. Friends and followers are the heart and soul of social networks, adding a social component. Getting and providing feedback is an integral part of social networking. Most websites offer a "like" button as well as the opportunity to leave comments to indicate if a friend or follower has viewed and loved a particular article or page.In addition, WordPress has evolved to become a powerful and flexible tool for creating all types of websites. And WordPress is a content management system (CMS), a platform that can build and maintain websites without any coding knowledge（Hendrickson，2020）.

REFERENCE LIST

Ansari, M., 2022. WordPress Market Share: How Many Websites Use WordPress in 2021?. Barn2 Plugins. Accessed 25 March 2022https://barn2.com/wordpress-market-share/

 

boyd, D & Ellison, M n.d., 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 210–230.

DOLLARHIDE, M., 2022. What Is Social Networking?. [online] Investopedia. Accessed 25 March 2022https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-networking.asp

 

Hendrickson, M., 2022. The History of WordPress: An In-Depth Look at the Most Popular CMS. Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge. Accessed 25 March 2022 https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/history-of-wordpress/

 

Kruse, L, Norris, D & Flinchum, J 2018 'Social media as a public sphere? Politics on social media' The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 59, no.1, pp. 62–84.

Minaev, A., 2022. What is a Blog? - Definition of Blog, Blogging & Blogger. FirstSiteGuide. Accessed 25 March 2022 https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog

 

Moss, A., 2022. How WordPress Came To Be - An Interviews With Matt Mullenweg And Mike Little — Smashing Magazine. [online] Smashing Magazine. Accessed 25 March 2022 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/02/interview-matt-mullenweg-mike-little-wordpress/

 

Murthy, D 2013, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age, Wiley, pp. 1–13.

WordPress.com. 2022. Stats — WordPress.com. Accessed 25 March 2022https://wordpress.com/activity/#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20are%20reading,20%20billion%20pages%20each%20month.

 

 

Image resource：https://wordpress.org/about/security/