According to Nelio Software, in 2017 WordPress now powers 54 of the top 100 sites on Inc. 5000. This shows a rapid increase in adoption among America’s fastest-growing private companies.
The continuous and rapid growth points to the maturation of the CMS and highlights just how far it’s come from its humble beginning as a blogging platform. There are several things that can be attributed to this unstoppable growth, including mass-adoption of open source and breaking the ‘blog’ stereotype.
WordPress as a Digital Experience
By now, WordPress has grown into a dynamic and powerful application used to build incredible digital experiences.
From ecommerce and apps to business websites, personal blogs and beyond, WordPress powers online experiences for startups and enterprise companies alike. Moreover, with more than 40k plugins available for free in the directory alone, WordPress boasts robust and versatile functionality.
It’s quite clear that WordPress has in many ways broken free of the “just for blogging” stereotype, which can be seen by the fact that 29 percent of all websites use the CMS to power their websites.
While WordPress is still a leading choice for bloggers, it’s also become the solution of choice for brands like Mercedes Benz, Samsung, Nikon, NASA, and more.
Mass adoption of open source software
In recent years, open source has taken the internet by storm. In fact, companies like Microsoft, Google, Tesla, and even the US government have embraced open source as part of their digital practices.
WordPress’s open-source foundation has positioned it at the cutting-edge when it comes to innovation. For example, when Google Glass launched in 2014, the very next day there were plugins already available, which enabled users to leverage and integrate the new technology with their sites.
The same can be said for Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.
Compare this to proprietary or closed solutions, where this process is often long and grueling. Open source software is more customizable, scalable and agile, which is invaluable in today’s era where businesses need to move faster to stay competitive.
The community is stronger than ever
An open source project is only as strong as its community — and the WordPress community is of the strongest open-source communities in the world. There are WordCamps, meetups and WordPress-centric events held all over the world, drawing in thousands and thousands of attendees. In fact, in 2015 there were 128 WordCamps in 48 countries and 99,301 people attended 4,379 meetups globally.
The adoption of WordPress isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In fact, it looks like it’s just getting started.
No Comments