We’ve had two post about Wordpress

• The first was a look at Prologue – a Wordpress plugin that let you host a Twitter-esque conversation on your blog.
• The second was about Chris Messina’s effort to create a social networking platform to turn Wordpress into an open social network he called the project DiSo.

Recently bigger news has hit the proverbial Wordpress fan. Perhaps sensing that the time was right, Wordpress has decided to take matters into its own hand – and will consciously try and hone its platform into a social network. Via VentureBeat:

"Wordpress will introduce BuddyPress, a social networking feature for its blogs
— The feature will allow users to create niche networks straight from
their Wordpress blogging software. It builds on Wordpress’ technology
called Wordpress MU, a platform that allows multiple blogs from a single account sign-on."

What does this mean?

Right now the most functional open source social networking platform is Drupal. I know a thing or two about Drupal – and one thing I know is that it can be incredibly difficult to use. Drupal, although it is becoming easier, is not something your average journalist can deploy to aid their reporting. If a journalist wants to use Drupal they either need to learn some php and feel very comfortable with a server, or hire somebody else to do that. Which is to say – nothing will happen.

Wordpress on the other hand is incredible easy. You give me 5 minutes and I’ll make you a nice Wordpress blog. The technical skills needed are nill and the cost is only your time. But let’s face it – that’s because Wordpress is really a glorified blogging platform. To the extent that it’s open source and the platform is constantly growing – it is extending itself out toward the functionality of Drupal.

Drupal is racing to become easier and more out of the box, while Wordpress is racing to become more functional and scalable.

I don’t know who will win this race – but I do know that as they reach each other in the middle there will be more room for journalists to build social networks around their beats. Personally, I would much rather belong to a social network that is focused on a subject or specific niche – then an amorphous blob of a social network like Facebook. I’m willing to bet that lots of people feel that way, that’s why you subscribe to an RSS feed in the first place – you want to keep up with the conversation.

What journalists should do now?
Figure out social networks. How do the work, whats the ebb and flow, how do you gently lead one, how do you deal with trolls, etc. This is the skill set that isn’t taught on the job right now but will become increasingly important.

It won’t be long now before social networking sites will become incredibly "out-of-the-box." That is a moment when journalists and news organizations can reassert themselves into the conversation – as moderators of conversation. The question is – will we be ready?