The Future of WordPress

WordPress

The Content Management System of Record

Tomás PuigSr. Director, Labs at WP Engine@tnpuig

#CMSR

IntroductionThe Current State of CMSThe CMSR in ActionThoughts on Product

IntroductionThe Current State of CMSThe CMSR in ActionThoughts on Product

The purpose of this document is to discuss the future of WordPress as an advanced application and CMS system. It was initially given at WordCamp San Diego 2015.

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IntroductionThe Current StateThe CMSR in ActionThoughts on Product

For this talk we will be discussing WordPress in the context of larger websites.

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State of the CMS

For a decade the CMS has not changed in use.

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What is a CMS?

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It is a computer application that allows publishing, editing and modifying content, organizing, deleting as well as maintenance from a central interface.(wikipedia)

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Forrester WaveReport Q1 2015

Major films like Forrester don’t even admit WordPress’ existence in the high end market.

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@tnpuig #CMSR

Forrester WaveReport Q1 2015

The LandscapeThe Current State of CMSThe CMSR in ActionThoughts on Product

For years, we’ve one had one figurehead broadcasting to many people.

Today our customers communicate in a social and connected way.

SUCCESSFUL CONTENT IS ALL ABOUT CONTEXT.

Who will see it? When will they see it?Where does it live?

These are the questions that will help us reach the audiences we want with the messages we want them to see (and the messages they want to see from us).

Many of these CMS options were built before the explosion of new devices hit the market.

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To support 80% of mobile devices you need to be available to 156 different models.

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“Over the next five years, our goals are around taking our next generation of services, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Search and helping them connect billions of people and become important businesses in their own right.” (Zuckerberg)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2607755-facebooks-fb-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-on-q3-2014-results-earnings-call-transcript

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The future of multi content ecosystems will be living in the medium of which they were designed for.

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“Social media companies tell us what to read based on what’s most recent or most popular, We see it differently. We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important.” (Snapchat)

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So not only supporting the huge proliferation of devices but following industry practice of a multiple applications strategy.

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It is clear current CMS technology does not allow access to all the needed use cases required by businesses in the coming years.

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A new model of content system will soon emerge into prominence to serve needs in a more efficient way.

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I like to call this the content management system of record (CMSR).

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The “content management system of record” (CMSR) will act as a source of truth for content to flow into, be modified, and output to any system that needs to access it.

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A rich environment for creatives and editors that acts as an API for your development teams.

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Seamlessly marrying the technical needs of developers with the ease of use required by the content creators.

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WordPress will become the universal orchestration layer for rich content on the web.

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To truly be a (CMSR) it must accomplish four major goals. (besides the basics of scale, support, legal, and other table stakes)

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1. Content must flow freely in and out of the system with minimal hassle.

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2. It decrease the time to market (TTM) of all content and device support.

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3. Allow flexibility and creativity in the display methods (both device and viewing OS)

To be application and device agnostic.

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4. Provide a best in class content and developer workflow that is not overcomplicated.

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WordPress is best positioned to be used as the leading (CMSR). The reason is threefold: Open source, proven workflows, and huge market adoption.

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The LandscapeThe Current State of CMSThe CMSR in ActionRecent DevelopmentsThoughts on Product

Some fantastic examples of early stage CMSR in action. Courtesy of Krogsgard and Post Status.

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Bloomberg Politics uses WordPress to publish, but based on the front-end of the website, you’d never know it.

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Mashable uses WordPress to publish, but their front-end is not WordPress at all.

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The New York Times uses the WordPress REST API for a variety of things. They are able to use the API in combination with their proprietary CMS.

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So it is clear that besides WordPress powering 23% of the internet it will begin to power the CMSR revolution as well.

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The LandscapeThe Current State of CMSThe CMSR in ActionThoughts on Product

The quickest way to gain users is to have a product that disrupts the market.

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A disruptive innovation gives new consumers access to product historically only available to consumers with a lot of money or skill.

(Andreesen)

It's a fabricated myth that disruptive innovation is about destruction: It's about creation

(Andreesen)

Disruptive innovation shrinks inequality, by bringing to lower-income consumers things that only richer consumers had.

(Andreesen)

Rich people always had books, music, clean clothes. Disruptive innovation made these things available to many more people.

(Andreesen)

Printing press disrupted books from scribes; recorded music disrupted live concerts in homes, washing machines disrupted live-in maids.

(Andreesen)

A new product for a previously underserved market it is typically cheaper than existing product.

(Andreesen)http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/02/marc-andreessen-teaches-startups-what-disruption-is-really-about-in-17-tweets/

WordPress has and will continue to disrupt the market and for that we should be grateful.

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Thank you.

@tnpuig #CMSR