We're press media Corp. You might even chuckle when you hear the phrase. This experimental initiative is a team that replaced the WordPress marketing team. Not commercial WordPress, mind you, but the open source.org side of the house. If you've been following me for any amount of time, you don't need me to spell out how important this initiative could be. A chance to legitimize the work.
Only a handful of people across the entire globe have dedicated their professional careers towards myself, included. Before we dive deeper into what the media Corp could accomplish. Let's take a look at the outgoing struggles. With the marketing team. How could a volunteer led marketing team accomplish the fundamental responsibilities of marketing with no access to website traffic data survey results, or have a stake in the product? That's right. It's nearly impossible.
I know some of the people that were leading the charge with that effort and led it with great care in intention. But they were handcuffed. Let's face it open source. WordPress doesn't function like a commercial product because it isn't, which is why it has succeeded. Marketing has to come organically with no budget or access. You're basically building out tasks for a team to accomplish.
Take the box, keep moving, but don't, you dare critically think about how you can impact the brand sentiment of WordPress. In my previous post, who was responsible for WordPress marketing are reported on the media Corps initiative stating that I'd reserve my opinion until I saw the process mature a bit more consider the rest of this, my reaction as the dust settles on the media cores contributor kickoff call. Our north star that I've been following is how do we keep WordPress thriving?
This was a call to action. Put out by Joseph A. Hayden jumbo, C executive director of WordPress in the state of the word 2023. It's recognized that in order for WordPress to escape a growth plateau, that the community needs to go beyond code quality and features. Humans need to recognize WordPress cores worth importance and benefits for the greater open web. Simply put. People need to recommend WordPress more.
If you can't do it with a volunteer marketing team, forge a bond with the people that have been the biggest cheerleaders for WordPress WordPress media, but this is open source. WordPress, why do we need an official team to wrangle the media? What even is WordPress media? I've been covering WordPress for well over 10 years. And whenever I needed anything, I reached out to the person and asked if.org was releasing something new.
I read about it, decided if it was newsworthy for my audience and then reported on it or shared my opinion. Yes. Something like the WordPress media Corp helps galvanize the work I've been doing here at the WP minute in my previous podcast, Matt report, but the approach has been opaque at best. Starting with the initial WordPress media kickoff call. Based on the call to action to comment.
If you want to be involved from the initial roadmap post, I was under the impression that the kickoff call was going to include media folk and the contributing team. I wasn't alone on that assumption. Either check out the comments. The kickoff call commenced and a private call with a contributing team. And Bob Dunn, founder of do the Wu who somehow found himself with the media liaison title record scratches. Where did that come from? Was it voted on?
Did WordPress media folks put Bob's name in a hat? Before we go further. I have nothing against Bob. Everyone loves Bob. He oversees some solid content that helps WordPress thrive. That said this was the media course for a shot at launching a meeting and through transparency out of the window. We'll get to the media Corp media partnership requirements in a minute. So just hold that thought. But there's another issue at hand that I've talked about ad nauseum.
WordPress media is tiny, impossible to turn into a sustainable business. And largely depends on in kind sponsorships that genuinely see value in this type of content existing. one only needs to look at the lack of effort to turn around the WP Tavern, to see the proverbial proof in the pudding. That's if you define WordPress media, like we do at the WP minute versus what WP beginner would publish nothing wrong with that. It's just two different paths.
Remember the media Corp team still hasn't released how they will definitively define this. more on that later, I do this work because I love WordPress. And because I think people should be informed on certain topics on the most widely used web publishing software. Do the Wuhan, the WB minute, both jockey for those in-kind sponsors to keep us afloat, to help pay our writers, production teams and other overhead to be included in the media Corp. Kickoff call is the equivalent to the.
The theme team, holding a private meeting to change how themes get included and only inviting Sujay power from Astro themes on the zoom call. But that's just my opinion, which is also my self-imposed job to analyze these community events. It's what I do. I'll reiterate nothing against Bob it's just media business brand and trust are really the only things we have and it goes both ways. This isn't the only time I've seen favoritism play out in WordPress media.
I recall my team being rejected as media partners for word camp Europe, 2023. While I sat back and saw some other brands, have their logos added to the website with barely a peep out of them on social media or blog posts covering the event. WordPress media is a perfect storm. There's only 10,000 English speaking people in the world that actually care about this type of content. Eight people in the world, myself included who actually care about covering it.
And so few people that know about the brands like WP minute and repository who tirelessly cover it. I miss Sarah Gooding. There's only a handful of WP media types. As I see it, independent WordPress news sites, paper of record, WP Tavern. General WordPress tutorial, information, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels. People that do it for funsies and people that do it because their company tells them to blog about WordPress. Which brings me to the current media core requirements.
On how they're evaluating us. I have a focus on producing content that is 80% about WordPress. Report factual news or produce relevant educational content. Maintain high standards of content, quality and journalism. And here to WordPress community guidelines and respect information sensitivities, if any. Have you ever come across fake WordPress news? Who decides what the standards of content quality and journalism are.
I mean, I lost that word, camp, media partnerships, lot to a tech YouTuber, and I know I barely pass high school, so maybe I won't cut it. There'll be another debate report news or relevant educational content. Here's a huge gap in scrutiny and body of work, possibly ethics. When you put tutorial brands on the same level as new sites. Hopefully you see the tug of war here. A small group of people being held to high levels of quality and standards.
Serving a tiny audience for very little income in an oversaturated space of link sharing emails wrapped in a big capital M media blanket. So, what do I want to see? Come from this? Besides feeling validated, I'm happy to have a more refined process for getting updates about WordPress releases or features. I would like to see a more concrete definition of WordPress journalism. It would be great to get recognition as WordCamp media partners. If you're already a media Corp partner.
Uh, process to be heard up channel back to WordPress, the software and leadership teams based on what we're seeing from our audiences. I also don't like the fact that we're slapping the experimental label on this it's too. easily used as an out, if this whole thing doesn't work. And it's also a way to bulldoze some of the voices that have legitimate concerns or have unique ways of contributing to media. Almost like an internship for volunteers to do marketing.
Where have I seen this movie before? We need more folks covering WordPress news. We need the Tavern back. We need WordPress thriving so that it continues to grow. In the end, I'm hopeful for this team and effort to flourish. With or without the WP minutes involvement, we'll see how this shapes up, because I know that I would do this without an official team or badge or qualification matrix, or someone saying that my work is worthy enough to be included.
Go open-source and keep WordPress thriving. Oh, and by the way, Happy birthday, WordPress.