14 DAY TRIAL // The world of blogging has been going through some changes in recent years. While blogging has become prevalent on the web, the hottest ways of getting stuff out there are Twitter or Facebook. With that threat, a new wave of blogging platforms has risen to offer an alternative to sites like Blogger or WordPress.com which is more in line with the times. Tumblr and Posterous are representative of this new wave and Posterous has been on a crusade of sorts lately, trying to get people to switch from what it calls “dying platforms.”
The latest target is WordPress. After Blogger, Twitpic, Flickr and countless others, Posterous has turned its sights on the most popular open-source blogging platform out there. Starting later today, users will be able to import their WordPress blogs and move to Posterous, according to a report in The Guardian. The feature isn’t live yet, but will be accessible from posterous.com/switch/wordpress.
Depending on where you’re importing from, all you’ll need to provide Posterous with is your username, your email and your URL and so on. You don’t even need to have an existing Posterous account. It’s obvious that the site has taken every step to streamline the process to get people using it as fast and as easy as possible.
With WordPress you’ll need to provide your blog’s URL and your account credentials. After that, you can just sit back and wait as Posterous grabs every piece of content available. The lure of Posterous is that it simplifies the posting process. The main way of getting new posts on the site is by email and this includes photos and videos not just plain text. This also works from your phone.
For those looking for a faster way to post, while on the go, Posterous is an attractive proposition. With the emphasis on real-time content, thanks to the rise of Twitter, there is certainly a need for that. But WordPress does offer a lot more options and control over your site, especially if you host it yourself so a lot of people will not find the trade off worthwhile. But since the two platforms have a different take on blogging, there’s certainly room for both of them.