Tag: Open Source & Linux

My Wordcamp San Francisco 2008 Notes

A comprehensive guide to the presentations, innovations, and WordPress wisdom shared at WordCamp 2008

WordCamp 2008 San Francisco

WordCamp 2008 brought together the brightest minds in the WordPress community

WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco represented a landmark gathering for the WordPress community, bringing together developers, bloggers, designers, and business leaders to share insights about the platform that was rapidly changing online publishing. The event showcased the remarkable growth of WordPress and offered a glimpse into its exciting future.

With presentations ranging from technical development and SEO best practices to business models and social networking innovations, WordCamp 2008 demonstrated just how versatile and powerful WordPress had become. Matt Mullenweg’s “State of the Word” address revealed impressive statistics: over 6.5 billion page views and 2.6 million WordPress blogs in the previous year alone.

This post captures the key insights from each presenter, preserving the wealth of knowledge shared at this significant event. Whether you’re interested in WordPress history or searching for timeless tips that remain relevant today, these notes offer a valuable resource for WordPress enthusiasts at all levels.

State of the Word: Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg

Founder of WordPress & Automatic

As the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg’s “State of the Word” address provided a revealing glimpse into the platform’s exponential growth and future direction. His presentation highlighted the incredible momentum WordPress had achieved, with statistics that impressed even veteran members of the community.

Key Statistics & Announcements

  • 11 WordPress releases in the previous year
  • 6,541,125,189 page views
  • 2,604,288 WordPress blogs (with 1,777,222 secure blogs)
  • Two-thirds of WordPress blogs already running on PHP 5
  • Introduction of WordPress Ideas platform at wordpress.org/extend/ideas/
  • Mention of “Prolog” – described as “Twitter in a box”

Matt’s presentation revealed not just impressive growth statistics but also WordPress’s increasing technical maturity, with a majority of installations already running on PHP 5. This foundation would enable more sophisticated features and better performance in future releases.

Attendees interested in connecting with Matt after the presentation were provided with his contact information: m@mullenweg.com and his personal website at ma.tt.

SEO Mistakes Most Bloggers Make: Stephan Spencer

Stephan Spencer

Stephan Spencer

SEO Expert & Founder of Netconcepts

Stephan Spencer’s presentation addressed common SEO pitfalls that WordPress bloggers frequently encountered. His insights provided practical solutions for improving search visibility and avoiding technical mistakes that could hinder a site’s performance in search rankings.

Key Recommendations

  • Implement the SEO Title Tag WordPress plugin
  • Create category-specific RSS feeds
  • Use “noindex, nofollow” robot directives appropriately
  • Apply proper SEO techniques specific to WordPress architecture

Stephan’s presentation highlighted how WordPress’s growing popularity made it increasingly important for bloggers to understand SEO fundamentals. With proper optimization, WordPress sites could achieve excellent search visibility while avoiding common technical mistakes.

Attendees were directed to Stephan’s website at netconcepts.com and could download his full presentation from www.netconcepts.com/learn/seo-mistakes.ppt for more detailed information.

Open Source Business Models: Stephen O’Grady

Stephen O'Grady

Stephen O’Grady

Industry Analyst & Co-founder of RedMonk

Stephen O’Grady’s presentation, “Make Cash. Using Open Source. And WordPress,” explored sustainable business models built around open-source platforms. His insights were particularly valuable for entrepreneurs looking to monetize WordPress-based businesses while honoring the open-source ethos.

Key Concepts

  • Small business blogging opportunities with WordPress
  • Monetization strategies compatible with open-source values
  • Building sustainable business models around WordPress

O’Grady’s presentation highlighted a critical evolution in the WordPress ecosystem: the emergence of viable business models that could sustain long-term development while preserving the platform’s open-source nature. This balance would prove essential to WordPress’s continued growth.

The full PDF presentation was made available at http://redmonk.com/public/wordcamp.pdf for attendees who wanted to explore these business concepts in greater depth.

LOLCats and the Secret of Virality: Ben Huh

Ben Huh

Ben Huh

CEO of Cheezburger Network

Ben Huh, known for the wildly successful I Can Has Cheezburger? network, shared insights on creating viral content. His presentation offered a fascinating look at how meme culture was interacting with blogging platforms like WordPress to create new forms of highly shareable content.

Key Tools & Concepts

  • Embed code strategies for content sharing
  • WordPress analytics tools for tracking viral spread
  • Post rating systems to identify potentially viral content

Huh’s presentation demonstrated how WordPress could power entirely new categories of content sites beyond traditional blogging. The platform’s flexibility allowed it to support emerging internet phenomena like meme culture, expanding its potential applications.

WordPress & Microformats: Tantek Çelik

Tantek Çelik

Tantek Çelik

Microformats Pioneer & Web Standards Advocate

Tantek Çelik’s presentation explored the integration of microformats into WordPress, demonstrating how structured data could enhance blog content. His talk offered a forward-looking vision of a more semantic web where WordPress content could be more easily discovered and repurposed.

Key Microformat Implementations

  • hCard for contact information
  • XFN (XHTML Friends Network) for social connections
  • TinyMCE plugin for hCard implementation
  • Calendar microformats for event information
  • Tools like Operator 0.9.3 for Firefox

Çelik’s presentation highlighted the growing convergence between WordPress and broader web standards. By implementing microformats, WordPress sites could participate more fully in the emerging semantic web, making content more discoverable and interoperable.

Çelik also discussed emerging technologies like BuddyPress (a Facebook-type application for WordPress), DiSo (Distributed Social Networking), and GetSatisfaction for profile syndication across multiple services.

Get Friendly with BuddyPress: Andy Peatling

Andy Peatling

Andy Peatling

Lead Developer of BuddyPress

Andy Peatling’s presentation introduced BuddyPress, an ambitious extension that would transform WordPress MU into a complete social networking platform. This groundbreaking project represented one of the most significant expansions of WordPress functionality to date.

Key BuddyPress Features

  • Private messaging system
  • Friends and social connections
  • Photo albums extending WordPress’s media capabilities
  • Status updates and activity feeds
  • “The Wire” for leaving comments on profile pages
  • Extended user profiles
  • Personal blog integration
  • Groups functionality

BuddyPress represented a significant evolution for WordPress, demonstrating its potential to expand beyond blogging into full-featured social networking. This extension would allow WordPress to compete in entirely new markets, further cementing its versatility as a web platform.

Peatling announced that BuddyPress version 1.0 was due for release in December 2008. He provided several resources for developers interested in exploring BuddyPress: a test drive site at testdrivewpmu.com, the official website at buddypress.org, and development resources at svn.buddypress.org/trunk and trac.buddypress.org.