We’ve known for a little while that ManageWP has had something in the works, we just didn’t know exactly what. Until yesterday, that is, when they made their project available to those willing to submit their email address to get invited to test it out. Turns out I’m still waiting for my email invite, so I can’t give you my full opinion quite yet. But I can share with you my initial thoughts and reactions!
Hmmm…another news site? That’s what I heard through the grapevine (aka saw on my Twitter feed) when I woke up yesterday morning. Upon further investigation, and after reading these thoughtful articles on WPMU.org and poststat.us, I actually started to get really excited. ManageWP.org is not going to be a traditional news site, like Torque, but rather a content aggregator with voting capabilities and discussion threads, in the vein of Reddit or Digg. Fast-paced and interactive…sounds fun!
When I ask people how they stay up to date with their WordPress news, I often hear the same response: “Through my twitter feed.” Well that’s great for them if it works, but what about people who have multiple interests, follow many sources, and have a broad range of friends on Twitter?
I thought briefly about creating a separate Twitter handle for only WordPress-related friends, colleagues, updates and news. But the reality of that would have left me feeling fragmented. Plus, would I really log out and log back in? What a pain. Or would I keep two browsers open just for this alternative Twitter feed? I don’t think so.
Since this has been on my mind, I’m jazzed about the idea of the community having a one-stop location to find all the latest WordPress news. Every news site has a different voice and intention and sometimes you just want to see everything listed in front of you all at once. Then you can choose where you want to go from there, while also seeing what else is out there.
The only concern I have, as an editor, is losing valuable reader comments to the aggregator. Part of the joy of managing a WordPress community news site is interacting with the readers, and I don’t want to give up any of those opportunities.
What do you guys think? Will you use the new aggregator? If so, will you still comment on the original sources too?
Image: ManageWP.org
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