WordPress vs. Tumblr vs. Posterous

Posted on by David Kennedy
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Anyone can launch a blog these days. Services like WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous make it easy.

The hard part comes when you have to decide which service to use. They’re all similar but different, and have strengths and weaknesses. So how do you decide? It’s tough, but should always come down to your individual needs. I’ve compared Tumblr and Posterous before (one of my most popular posts), and thought it would be fun to compare all three blogging platforms. An important note: in this comparision, I’ll focus on WordPress.com, not the open source, downloadable software

Basic Information

  • WordPress.com: Run by Automattic, WordPress is one of the oldest, and most respected blogging platforms around.
  • Tumblr.com: Run by Tumblr, Inc., Tumblr is a rising micro-blogging platform that’s popular among creatives and blogging newbies.
  • Posterous.com: Posterous, Inc., Posterous, often mentioned in the same articles as Tumblr, made its name thanks to friendly email features and new group site options.

Wordpress Logo

Positives: WordPress

  • Data portability: One of WordPress’ strengths – you can import and export from a variety of formats with ease. You never have to worry about the question: “How can I get my content out?”
  • Lots of themes: The thing I love the most about WordPress is the variety of themes available, including new premium ones.
  • Flexibility for future growth: The software that powers any blog you begin on WordPress.com is the same software you can download at WordPress.org. That means that if your site grows beyond the needs of a blog, requires advanced functionality that doesn’t exist in WordPress.com or you just want more control – it’s all a download away, with the same user experience.

 Negatives: WordPress

  • Can the blogging giant keep up? With Tumblr and Posterous focusing on micro-blogging, mobile blogging, privacy and Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and Diaspora innovating in big ways, can a a “traditional” blogging platform like WordPress keep up with endless changes?
  • Mobile app: The mobile app for WordPress (I’ve used the Android one) isn’t as strong or as integrated with core functionality as both Tumblr and Posterous’ apps.
  • Upgrades cost money: Many, not all, but many of the features and functionality that you’d find for free on Tumblr and Posterous cost money on WordPress.com. These include: your own domain, custom CSS, no ads, etc. If cost is a factor, this may be a deal-breaker.

Tumblr Logo

Positives: Tumblr

  • Strong niche communities: While WordPress and Posterous have vibrant communities, Tumblr has great niche communities for fashionistas, creatives, journalists and more.
  • Quick and easy: While WordPress’  has built a name around its simple user interface, I’ve heard many say that Tumblr’s approach (with fewer options, quick micro-blogging features and built-in social network) has won them over.
  • The up and comer: Over the past year, Tumblr has risen to stardom amongst the tech/social media start-ups. It may be able to ride the momentum on to more innovation.

Negatives: Tumblr

  • Not for everybody: Even though Tumblr, WordPress.com and Posterous share many of the same features, Tumblr has the stronger social network feel. Some might see it as just another social network, and wonder why they need another one, of if they have the time.
  • No way to export content: Tumblr offers no way to export your content, which could force users to lose content if they decide to leave Tumblr.
  • Specialized content: As mentioned in the first point, Tumblr is a social network and creative, multimedia-friendly, short bursts of content performs well there. This certainly can be seen as a positive, but it might not be for everyone.

Posterous Logo

Positives: Posterous

  • Reinvented: Posterous became Posterous Spaces recently, turning the super-easy blogging platform into more of a social network, built for sharing content publicly or privately with flexibility over appearance and other features. Much of this can be accomplished using the other platforms, but Posterous has aimed for this to be its niche.
  • Group blogging/sites: I’ve used Posterous to some success as a group blog with Journalism Lives. It’s been fun, and Posterous as a platform excels at this.
  • Mobile publishing: All three platforms have strong mobile apps, but Posterous’ latest version ties into its new features well, priming it to be the perfect place to share content on the go.

Negatives: Posterous

  • Weaker Community: Posterous does not have as strong of a community as Tumblr or WordPress. It’s newer so that may change.
  • No way to export content: Posterous, like Tumblr, offers no way to export your content. Again, this should be seen by platforms as a basic feature to offer users ultimate flexibility.
  • Very much like Google Plus: The one thing that I noticed when I first checked out Posterous Spaces was how similar it was to Google Plus in overall goals… It will be interesting to see how Posterous and the two other platforms distinguish themselves among all of the competition in the social media space.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun post to write. Honestly, I had trouble coming up with three negatives for all of these platforms. They all have similarities, so ultimately it comes down to YOU. I’ve mentioned this before in my other post, comparing Tumblr and Posterous. You’ll get the most out of a platform if you’re comfortable with it and like/love using it. It’s why I ultimately started a new, fun blog on WordPress.com after trying with both Posterous and Tumblr to do the same thing. For me, the deciding factor was WordPress embracing the open source mentality. I always know that I will always have control of my data.

For you, the decision may be different.

Open Source Goodness

Posted on by David Kennedy
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In the past two weeks I stumbled across three awesome open source projects that make creating interactive websites easier. They are:

  • Twitter Bootstrap: a set of tools that’s simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and Javascript for popular user interface components and interactions.
  • Project Argo: A collection of tools and best practices for building topic-focused sites in WordPress.
  • freeDive: A tool that transforms Google Spreadsheets into searchable databases that can be embedded in websites.

Check them out! I’m excited to start using them.

One Month with the Kindle Fire

Posted on by David Kennedy
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Kindle Fire Advertisement

Courtesy of Amazon.com

If you had asked my co-workers before the holiday season which tablet I might buy, they would have all put money on the Apple iPad. After all, I’m the only one in the office with the iMac, and I’ve brought up Steve Jobs at a few staff meetings.

But I never considered an iPad. Two days after Christmas, I let go of my Apple bias and bought a Kindle Fire. Why? Several reasons:

  • I already have a laptop, so I couldn’t justify spending $500 for another, no matter how beautiful and useful it turned out to be.
  • The main reason I wanted a tablet was to read e-books, so I knew cheaper e-readers existed.
  • I knew I would use my tablet for content consumption above all else.

First Impressions

The Kindle Fire does one thing well – help you browse and consume content. The other thing it does better – direct you to buying that content from Amazon.

Liking This…

  • Easy to set up, and get going with access to your Amazon content.
  • Changing the appearance of type while reading books is nice.
  • The size is perfect.

Not a Fan of…

  • Silk: It’s slow, very slow. I turned the acceleration off and it sped things up.
  • App Store: Not even a Twitter or Facebook app, but glorified links to mobile sites. That’s ridiculous. Updates come to the Amazon App Store much slower than normal. Sometimes, it wants me to update an app, but won’t let me update the app – probably because the Amazon-approved version isn’t available.
  • Navigating the perils of converting e-book files back and forth proved to be a learning experience. Luckily, there’s Calibre.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the Kindle Fire gives me what the iPad could not – a supercharged e-reader with a reasonable price tag. I can read and buy books all I want, and when I need to, check websites, blogs, etc. I’m excited to see how my reading habit will change this year. In the end through, if Apple made a $200 or even $250 iPad Lite, I would have bought it instead.

Social Media as Resistance

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We all know social media can suck time away.

One of my favorite authors, Steven Pressfield, did an interview with CopyBlogger recently, and talked about his life as a writer. One of the interesting things he said was that he refused to use social media himself because it got in the way. His publicist primarily monitors his social media channels. Does Pressfield have a point here?

Absolutely. Do you adjust the use of social media if you’re working on a big project or goal?

Sometimes WordPress Isn’t the Right Choice

Posted on by David Kennedy
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Wordpress Logo

Wait, what? That’s sacrilegious for me to write a headline like that!

WordPress Tavern linked to a post by Kevinjohn Gallagher about his creative agency stopping the use of WordPress for clients. Gallagher points out these weaknesses in WordPress:

WordPress has either no, or severely limited:

  1. Document management
  2. Workflow management
  3. Digital asset management
  4. Link management
  5. User management
  6. ESI Caching / CDN ability.
  7. WYSIWYG editing
  8. Single Sign-on
  9. Multi-side Admin
  10. Publishing options
  11. Access Management
  12. Application
  13. Multi-lingual
  14. n-to-n content sharing
  15. Reporting

As one of the commenters points out – there is no perfect CMS. Each user’s needs differ vastly – especially enterprise clients. And as John James Jacoby says, Gallagher’s “they” are us. We can change the course of WordPress in a number of ways to make it more like the perfect content management system. You just can’t say that about proprietary systems.

Some of the proprietary systems do some of the things that Gallagher wants better, but none of them handles the user experience or ease of installation/updates better than WordPress. That’s something to remember. WordPress has nailed that pretty well, and can continue to build on it.

What do you think? Is WordPress as weak as Gallagher makes it sound?

Help Stop SOPA and PIPA

Posted on by David Kennedy
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Today, WordPress asked its community of 60 million users to act against the possible legislation of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. You can help too. This is an important thing to do for anyone who makes a living on the web. As Jeffrey Zeldman of Happy Cog and A List Apart says:

(SOPA) [is] an ill-conceived lobbyist-driven piece of legislation that is technically impossible to enforce, cripplingly burdensome to support, and would, without hyperbole, destroy the internet as we know it.

Let’s not let ill-formed legislation, written by people who know nothing about technology, destroy the Internet. Actually, screw that. This isn’t so much about technology as it’s about freedom. Act now!

Five Takeaways from Reading Steve Jobs

Posted on by David Kennedy
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Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

I just finished reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

It’s an amazing read, and I enjoyed it immensely. Some techies may not appreciate it as much as they could because it isn’t technical. You won’t read about all the ins and outs of making the iPhone or iPad, but you will read about the big breakthroughs, obstacles and quirks of Steve Jobs. That was just what I wanted.

I took away many things from the book and Steve Jobs’s life. Here’s a short list:

  1. Be passionate. You can’t make any real difference with your work or life without believing in what you do. Jobs truly wanted to create great products. It showed in the results he and his team at Apple unleashed over the last three decades.
  2. Mind the details that matter. Details make the difference. Paying attention to how a product looked on the inside, even though no one ever saw it, helped Jobs build products that looked like nothing else.
  3. Be a jerk. Sometimes. Issaacson’s biography recounts many instances of Jobs being a jerk. Sometimes warranted, sometimes not. That persona can prove invaluable when you can’t get your idea or vision through to people any other way.
  4. Focus. The thing that I marveled at more than anything in the book is how Jobs reinvented Apple’s product line after he came back in the late 1990s. It took a lot of guts and vision to say “This is what Apple is good at, and this is what we’ll do,” so to speak. So many companies and organizations fail at this.
  5. What obstacles? Issaacson writes a lot about Jobs’s “reality distortion field.” Jobs certainly set unrealistic goals at times – almost always. However, it was that shooting for the impossible, and ignoring limitations that made him and his team at Apple do groundbreaking things, and make a “dent in the world.”

Have you read the book? What did you learn. Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com.