I recently had the opportunity of attending WordCamp US 2022 in San Diego, USA. The official North American WordPress conference, gathering and networking event. It was first time attending this event and to summarize… I was very impressed. Where do I begin?
There is a lot of movement in the CMS space, the website platform space, maybe you’ve heard of a few of the new competitors? Webflow, Squarespace, Duda, Wocode, Codeless, Popsy… I could go on and on…
Yet WordPress remains king, the most popular website platform around planet earth, powering well over 40% of the websites on this globe. Yet, for reasons unknown to me, the WordPress brand and community to be relatively “undercover”, for how popular and immense the technology has grown to be, it doesn’t TRY to mirror the “sexy” SaaS and technology vibe that so many modern companies have developed. And yet, many of those companies come and go… With fast sales growth, impressive acquisitions and partnerships, and some falling to wayside…
WordPress continues to power on. Evangelizing the importance of an open source, flexible, functionality-first brand and vision. When the populous follows in endless droves the new and exciting trends of decentralized technology, blockchain, the “democratization” of online platforms… I can’t help but chuckle, knowing that WordPress has been here all along.
So, what are the top three reasons I am ALL IN on WordPress?
1. Democratized and open source technology
WordPress succeeds because it of it’s ability to be flexible, adapt and integrate with just about any technology that is coming about these days. The WordPress plugin library for example has tens of thousands of plugins, many of which developed by private companies from around the world. I feel strongly that is one of the most impressive examples of global technology collaboration, and it works, very well.
See for yourself just how many options there are here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/
2. An open an honest culture
I was attending the last official speaking event of the WordCamp US conference. CEO of Automattic and founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg was speaking and the star of the show. However, “star” is not the word I would use to describe his time… Not in a negative way, but there was no “flashy” showcase of new product updates, features or software. There was a simple and straightforward presentation about what WordPress was working on next followed by 20 minutes of Questions and Answers from the crowd.
And boy I tell you… The crowd had some TOUGH questions, critiques, debates, requests to Mr. Mullenweg… I hand’t seen anything like it. Yet, he handled them all with humility, honesty and transparency. It was refreshing indeed to witness.
3. Swimming against the current
In a flashy world of technological growth, we are consistently bombarded with the “latest and greatest” technology: cryptocurrency, NFTs, DAOs, blockchain, easy-to-use website builders, click funnel software, etc. etc. etc.
If you want to talk about TRUE innovation, look at major companies that are doing things “differently”. Often, I think that we confuse innovation and progress with speed, volatility and flashiness. That is the opposite of WordPress and it’s ethos and so far it’s working, very well.
As a branding and digital development agency owner, I came away with nothing but respect for WordPress, it’s founder and the community it has formed since 2003! As far as I am concerned they are one of the original PIONEERS in this space, they continue to innovate, and enlist the help and expertise of global, open source and distributed community!
Now… Who can compete with that?
