Blogging Platforms – Part 1
March 7, 2007 by Des Walsh
Filed under Social Media
This series of posts - ten in all are planned – looks at blogging platforms, a shorthand term for the variety of blogging software and hosting solutions on offer. The intention is to provide a practical point of reference for businesses, not a comprehensive study of blogging platforms.
There is no shortage of blogging platforms to meet a variety of needs, for the totally non-technical or the total geek, for individual users, for medium-sized groups and for huge enterprises with multiple users.
Prices range from zero dollars down, to under ten dollars a month, up to “price on application”. There is a commensurate range of support and service.
The multiplicity of choice is good for individuals and companies. It can also be very confusing, especially for people who do
Having made a few efforts recently to draft up some posts about blogging platforms and having become rather frustrated with that process, today I took a new tack and started a mindmap, which I now share here. As it says on the image, this is a Work In Progress. I’m planning to refine and improve it progressively, as comments and suggestions come in.
I’ve included the platforms I know about and which seem to me to be reasonably widely used for business purposes. Some I have included I don’t actually know much about, such as Manila and Expression Engine. I’m hoping that reader feedback will help me refine the list and the mindmap.
The image below is linked to a larger version.
Platforms included in the image above are, in order from top to bottom of the image, which does not imply any scale of relative value:
Drupal, ExpressionEngine, Blogtronix, iUpload, Manila, 21Publish, IBM Lotus Connections, MovableType, WordPress.org, WordPress MU, Blogger, Typepad, Blogware, BlogHarbor, Squarespace, Live Spaces, WordPress.com, blogspot
I’ll comment on specific blogging platforms in posts to follow in this series. Comments and suggestions on inclusions and ommissions will be most welcome.
Oh boy this should be fun Des!
Where I come from it’s called leading with your jaw. But the die is cast.
Traction TeamPage is a candidate for your list. Software Download only. I suppose it would fall into your Complex Social Software category.
TeamPage has all the facilities of Enterprise 2.0 in the box, including ability to create multiple spaces and permissions for each, publish, comment, edit, link, apply and navigate labels in one space or across spaces, search with permission filters, and create RSS feeds out of any cross-section of content.
Thanks for the inclusion, Jordan. From the website description it looks like a formidable engine. I will be updating the mindmap with such suggestions, as we go along.
Looks like a cool series!
Hi Des (great last name! :)),
I’m looking forward to the series – I’d like suggest three related metrics to include:
1. Anti-spamming ease of use. How much effort is involved for both the blogger and their commenters to avoid publishing spam?
2. Admin time per week. Just how much effort will business people have to put into administration of their blog?
3. Anti-spamming protection level. How well does the blog platform (and add ins) police and prevent spam?
Great suggestions Bob. Thank you. I know from various conversations that these are crucial questions for business people who are considering blogging.
Two items in response to Bob Walsh’s comment, with respect to the enterprise “behind the firewall” use case.
1. Anti Spamming: anti-spamming is a requirement for “corporate blogs” where the blog may be public facing. In “enterprise blog” cases where, generally, there is only behind the firewall access or access to the company, its partners and customers, anti-spamming is not a big issue.
2. Admin Time for Business People: A behind the firewall blog for business people is generally oriented around every-day business communications, and therefore the time to add and manage posts is time one may free up from e-mail, and will generally decrease communication frictions, creating saved time for all.