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Jeff Chandler

Overtaking Blogger Through Mobile Apps

Darnell Clayton of BloggingPro.com takes a look at the prospects of WordPress possibly overtaking the popularity of Blogger thanks to mobile applications. At this point, WordPress has an application for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Google Android. That covers most of the smartphone market. However, I have a hard time believing these devices are being used to publish full length content on a regular basis.

In my experience with using the WordPress app for the iPhone, I’ve come to realize that it’s just not the same as having an actual mouse and keyboard with multiple monitors. Blogging on the iPhone is a pain in the rear thanks to an inefficient work-flow and the on-screen keyboard which I’ve still have not been able to master. I’ve relegated to using the WordPress app as a management utility to moderate comments, perform quick edits on pages or posts, and other small tasks. I wonder if I’m alone in this respect or if others have had the same experience when blogging from a mobile device.

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9 responses to “Overtaking Blogger Through Mobile Apps”

  3. It’s funny this should come up, as I wrote a blog entry last night while sitting alone in a Chinese restaurant. The WordPress app for Blackberry is a great way for me to write entries while I’m waiting around somewhere. But I always just save my entry as a draft so I can go in later and embed media. At the very least, I wait until I can upload a post thumbnail using my regular computer.

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  4. @Dave Ross – I do think that’s the best way to use these apps, especially the one on the iPhone. Writing a couple of paragraphs for a post is such a pain, especially when I have a bunch of typos. But when you’re in line at the store or feel like getting something off your chest, I suppose it’s a good way to get the initial draft started.

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  6. I think the WP iPhone app is much better than anything available that works on Blogger, but it’s nowhere near sufficient for anything more than a short post. The way it handles photos alone (huge and affixed at the end of the post) is a big obstacle to using it for regular publishing.

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  7. I liken mobile blogging to tweeting, except the blog entry is generally more permanent. If I am looking to be socialable, I tweet; if I have something to “say”, I blog.

    I have also taken to saving as a draft then giving the post a quick once over before publishing from my desk top.

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  8. Blogger’s one big mobile strength is still the publish by e-mail option. I know WP.com just added this (only 8 years after LiveJournal — just saying…the fact that I was posting by e-mail and even by audio post to my LiveJournal blog in early 2002 is sort of mind-blowing when you consider how behind the “modern” platforms still are), but WordPress.org support in a way that matches it still doesn’t really exist without a lot of bullshit. Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous (and both Posterous and Tumblr have AWESOME e-mail support for photos, chat logs, links, photo galleries, audio files, etc.) are still much more accessible for people who don’t want to use a client (or don’t have it on their device) or are on a phone with e-mail support that still isn’t quite a smartphone.

    I think though that what you and I might overlook is that the way we blog – with more “full content” as you say, isn’t the way most people blog. Again, this is why Tumblr and Posterous and most especially Facebook and Twitter are so popular. It’s just flat-out easy to share a brief thought or picture or link. It’s just easy.

    So for people that just want to post bite-sized links and updates to their blog, yeah, I think having as much phone support as possible is great. Still, I don’t think Blogger is the real competitor in this space — it’s Facebook, Twitter and the other micro-blogging tools like Tumblr and Posterous.

    And while I like the WordPress iPhone app — I like the Tumblr app more. I especially like that I can even have a bookmarklet in mobile safari to easily post to Tumblr (Posterous does this too I think).

    Of course, this brings up the whole issue of how WordPress, especially in its core development, is shifting to be more of a general content platform rather than a “blogging” platform — but that’s another discussion entirely.

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  9. Not many people would publish long posts from their iPhone, but I bet plenty of us are at least moderating comments while out and about.

    But if you think about a different type of blogger, the more personal, short-take blogger, mobile apps make posting to your blog as easy as updating Facebook. Personal example, I run a blog for my family that is little more than pictures of the us and the kids so that distant family and friends can see what we’re up to. Two years ago I would take photos on my camera, transfer them to the computer later that night, upload to the blog, and publish them. Now I just snap a quick shot of the kids doing cute stuff on my iPhone and post it straight away.

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