2008 Year-End Wrap-Up
Another year, a few more blogs.
2008 has been a pretty groovy year for WordPress.com and the company behind it, Automattic. We doubled in size and brought new talent on board including some through the acquisition of two companies: Intense Debate and PollDaddy. This fine crew has helped bring new features to your dashboards, along with other goodies to be revealed in the new year. The growth has helped us to keep up with you guys in terms of service and new features.
Change
This year has been all about change — and, as always, listening to the WordPress community. We’ve introduced a ton of new features, some of which you’ve been asking for in the forums and comments: Snap previews, music and video uploads, identicons, captions, Turbo, sticky posts, HTTPS settings, polls, favicons, and lots more.
We also rolled out a few new themes: Monotone, Albeo, Journalist (revised), and DePo Masthead. That’s way too few though, and bringing more themes to you is going to be one of our top priorities for 2009.
Your dashboards have seen not one but two redesigns this year, and from the looks of your comments and other feedback, you’re pretty happy with the latest change. We’re glad, since this latest transformation will be the framework on which future features are built. (Also meaning we’re not planning to redesign again anytime soon!)
As is the case with any year, there were a couple rough days in 2008, but we survived a DOS attack or two with very minimal downtime, and learned a lot in the process that will have us better prepared in the future. We’re very proud to have been one of the most reliable online services this year with availability rivaling folks 100x our size.
Apps
The Open Source WordPress iPhone app was released earlier this year, and we’re now on our way to version 1.2. We’ve also partnered with LinkedIn by adding an app to their Applications feature, released through Open Social. Both of these are compatible with both WordPress.org and WordPress.com. (Don’t forget there’s also a Facebook application and a mobile site.)
Bloggers
We’ve spotlighted a number of new bloggers and WordPress converts this year over on our Publisher Blog. The breadth of talent and interests always amazes me. Folks from Martha Stewart to The Real Dan Lyons and organizations from the NFL to the UK Royal Navy use WordPress in all its flavors: WordPress.com, WordPress.com VIP, WordPress MU, and WordPress.org. More are being added to the Showcase every day.
WordCamps
The best representation of the WordPress community IRL is WordCamp. I’ve had a blast traveling the world and meeting you all at WordCamps this year. There were 29 WordCamps in all — from South Africa to Australia to Alabama — and I was able to attend and speak with you at about half. Attendance for all 2008 WordCamps combined was approximately 3,400, which is a number much higher than we could have drawn at just one big event in a single location per year. Thanks to all who organized WordCamps this year and helped bring the WordPress community together, worldwide.
Check out the list to see if there’s a WordCamp near you in 2009. If there isn’t, start your own! We’ll do what we can to help you make it happen.
Yearly Stats
Here are the stats in aggregate for the year!
2,906,086 blogs were created.
3,761,296 new users joined.
35,926,639 file uploads.
13.5 terabytes of new files.
4,804 terabytes of content transferred from our datacenters. [corrected]
78,773,011 comments.
62,978,912 logins.
9,402,615,494 pageviews on WordPress.com, and another 6,467,996,032 on self-hosted blogs (15.8 billion total across all WordPress blogs we track).
3,132,606 active blogs and 44,027,035 active posts where “active” means they got a human visitor.
Plus a bit on languages:
About 66% of blogs on WordPress.com are in English, but there’s also:
8% Spanish
5% Indonesian
4% Portuguese
2% Italian
2% German
2% French
1.5% Turkish
and another 9.5% of other languages.
It’s exciting to see WordPress.com become a truly global community, and we plan to keep that in mind as we move forward with features in 2009.
(If you want to improve the translations for your language and help contribute to WordPress, please add your entry to the WordPress Translation Project.)
Thanks
Lastly, from all of us at Automattic, thank you. By itself WordPress.com is just a blank canvas, it’s what you bring to it that draws the world to our doorsteps.
Happy New Year!
wow!
Thank you fot all pursuits in 2008 🙂
LikeLike
I think it says a lot that 33% of the blogs are in languages other than English. Keep up the good work. I expect 2009 to be even more exciting.
LikeLike
I will be having my year-end wrap up too. Thanks for the reminder. Call this – a tradition.
LikeLike
Thank you Matt, and very happy 2009! 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Matt and the team,
I’ve only recently joined but I must say that I’m amazed at the hits I’ve had on my blog which has only been going for three months. Thank you so much!
All the best for 2009,
Richard.
LikeLike
It was in fact great to be a part of WordPress Family..
Keep it up..! WordPress Team…
Regards
LikeLike
Congrats.
I hope a new option for Tarski theme with dark black Text.
LikeLike
I’m one of those 4% portuguese… here’s hoping 2009 will make that 5% :p
LikeLike
WOW! really great achievements.
LikeLike
Congrats!
LikeLike
A very Happy and a Prosperous New Year to all at WordPress, hope you continue to make such progress in the new year 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks folks – great work. Keep on in 2009. In the meantime I’ll do some translations for German … 😉
LikeLike
Aww, but thank you for everything you guys do! :] Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Fantastic year with wonderful service. Thanks so much for all you do! Best wishes for 2009!
LikeLike
Happy new year 2009 !
LikeLike
congrats!
LikeLike
Yeah, i’ve started blogging (again) since December 2008. Looks like wp did some great works on that year. Congrats! \m/ 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you
LikeLike
happy new year )))
LikeLike
Bravo! Not only for product quality and design; but, atitude, Matt. I’m the sort of hermit who used to spend a fair piece of time with a community of coworkers and a community of clients, even a community of peers within an industry. It was fun – and, then, I left it after retiring and I’m very happy with a much simpler life.
But, peering in through the window of this iMac, I recognize the respect you draw from your peers, clients, customers and users. And fellowship. Have a Happy New Year.
LikeLike
Wow!! That’s a lot of blogs and files!! : O Keep up the good work, WP!!
LikeLike
great job, guys.
v(^_^)
cheer up!
LikeLike
it`s was a very good year!!!
LikeLike
Oh nice, thanks you.
Happy new year 🙂
LikeLike
5% Indonesian language, cool…
LikeLike
Thank you very much!
Happy new year!
Nora
LikeLike
Happy New Year WordPress! You people have the absolute best blogging format on the internet.
Thank you so much for your creative dedication and hard work.
Bravo and brava – standing ovation!
LikeLike
Thank you for everything in 2008 – Looking forward to see what you bring on next 🙂
Happy New Year 😀
LikeLike
Thank you, WordPress, for being totally awesome. 🙂
LikeLike
Happy 2009!
LikeLike
Thats famous year for WordPress.com.
But new design of WordPress.com is not now at WordPress Translation Project.
LikeLike
Please contact Support if you’re having trouble adding your translation.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing the mega-stats, and the reminders of all those new features. It was quite an impressive year!
Happy New Year to all of you!
LikeLike
Congrats for all your successes! We love you mates
LikeLike
Thank You wordpress for being awesome and cool…other blogging services can’t even compare.
LikeLike
Happy New Year!! Thank you WordPress for being wonderful!
LikeLike
2,906,086 very good 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you for the wonders of WordPress ! Have a Happy New Year and a great 2009 ! Keep up with the great work !
Cheers!
LikeLike
Happy!
LikeLike
Happy New Year to everyone at WP and Automattic!
The bygone year was indeed a good one for WP and its users and here’s hoping that 2009 is even more eventful and happy!
LikeLike
I hope your next year is even more successful 🙂
LikeLike
I opened my blog this year, and WordPress has been by far the best option of service. :] Thank you very much, and happy new year!
LikeLike
New to blogging, but loving it. I really appreciate your service, and committment.
Thanks a Lot, and Happy New Year!
Stephanie
LikeLike
2008 was a great year for you guys!
LikeLike
Thanks so much for all your hard work this year 🙂
LikeLike
Is Intense debate going to be incorporated for users that use wordpress.com?
LikeLike
Yes, Intense Debate features will be rolled out on WordPress.com this year. Stay tuned for updates.
LikeLike
wow amazing stats! =D
LikeLike
Happy New Year!
Hello,
I am a new WordPress blogger and started mine at the end of 2008. I want to thank everyone on WordPress for the help with tutorials, forums. All this information has helped me to put it together, I learned so much!
Thank you!
~ Gabriela ~
LikeLike
Looking forward to the future and what it brings!
Maybe some more innovative tools?
LikeLike
Can’t wait to see what’s coming in 2009.
LikeLike
Thank you for this wonderfull site.. I really appreciate writing my blogs here in this athmosphere..
all the best for 2009 to all of you!
snooker86
LikeLike
Thank you and Happy new year 2009
LikeLike
Thanks to wordpress I dared to set my first steps in digiland in 2008 😉
There is still some work to do to make it more languagefriendly for Dutchspeaking people, but it became allready better during the past year. Thanks for that effort 🙂
LikeLike
I loved the new WordPress update. I created my blog, Challenging Teens, in June, and I must say that I have loved WordPress. I am also eagerly awaiting the new things that shall be created for WordPress.
|Mike|
LikeLike
Happy New Year!!! Can’t wait to see what you all roll out in ’09!!
LikeLike
Happy New Year and thanks for all the work you put in – but one question, can we get rid of the snow flakes now? 🙂
LikeLike
Don’t worry, the snowflakes will melt away on January 4 😉
LikeLike
Yep.That is Cool also How many blogs are there? Whoa!
LikeLike
Another year as passed, keep up the good work!
I just recently joined the community, and I’m inviting my friends too.
Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Mat, thank you very much for all that you have done for us during 2008.
Now, I generally avoid commenting in order to just agree, so here is the “but…” part: Most of the languages that you mentioned above are probably fine with ansi or with the western european subset of the unicode character set, but the rest of the languages of our planet would really benefit from full/better unicode support on WordPress. I am not going to bore you with the details of exactly what I mean, besides, you probably already know, PLUS these comments are not for bug reporting, but if by any chance you are not sure, ask me, and I’d be happy to elaborate on it. (I am a developer, so chances are that I will probably do it in a developer-friendly way.)
LikeLike
If you’d like to get involved with WordPress development, check out Contributing to WordPress and WordPress trac.
LikeLike
Congrats and glad to hear there will be more themes in the future, hope there will be more 3 columns theme (my wish list). Best wishes in 2009!
LikeLike
Wow, a lot of members joined WordPress. Can on trying to get even more people. Good job, Matt and the WordPress staff. You guys make bogging great, because its much easier the WordPress way to make a blog rather having to know a lot of things about servers and CSS.
LikeLike
Java language:
o, ngono… (o, like this…)
oke deh… (oke )
matur nuwun (thanks a lot)
LikeLike
Wow! congratulation1 ^^
hohoh, i like snow falkes! whta’s come next?! sakura’s leafs? X3
LikeLike
cheers to a great team!
KUDOS!
salamat {tagalog of THANK YOU}
LikeLike
I began my weblog in September as an enhancement to my website and it has been great! If I had done this first, I probably would not have done the website. Thank you for the opportunity and the great things you have to offer. There is a lot of class here at WordPress and I am very impressed! All of you work very hard and it was a great year! Thank you.
LikeLike
Keep up the good efforts at WordPress. Cheers.
LikeLike
WordPress has got to be one of the best deals. Period. Thank you all and have a great 2009.
LikeLike
Happy New Year! Waiting for s.th new on WordPress this year!
LikeLike
Thanks for a great year wordpress! 2009 is gonna be even better!
~Cali 😀
LikeLike
WordPress is gr8!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!
LikeLike
Happy New Year 2009, Matt! Wishing all the best for you.
I love the new dashboard design, thanks a lot for you and your team in WordPress. Its great!
LikeLike
Many thanks for such a great site to begin blogging. Your support and forums mean that even the simplest problem is answered with grace and the difficult queries with detective like grit. Keep up the good work.
LikeLike
THANK YOU WORDPRESS!!!!!!
LikeLike
geese thats a lot! oh well more viewers 😀
LikeLike
Not only do I love WordPress but, I like the hat too!! Happy New Year!
LikeLike
I am so happy to have become an avid WordPress blogger. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to create a blog in 2008! It has grown tremendously and I am so excited to have made even a little difference in such a big community. Cheers to 2009!
Many thanks, R
LikeLike
I think your doing a wonderful job. I do have one thing that I would like to say. I have noticed on other blogging sites (mostly blogger) that they have options to change the background for free and make them very cute. I tried to do this but have found in order to change anything I have to pay for it. I would either like an option to just change the background a little without having to pay, or getting better templets. If there is nothing I can do about the money issue then I would like to see better backgrounds. I have noticed the templets right now, most of them, have just one color on the sides. I would like to see some cute designs on the sides. I love scrapbooking and I like all the cute papers and backgrounds so I am looking for more of that in the templets. Thanks for listening
LikeLike
Thanks for your suggestion. As Matt mentioned, themes will be a priority this year.
LikeLike
Happy New Year, Partners!!!
LikeLike
Wish you happy and Prosperous New Year
LikeLike
The Facebook WordPress app that you linked too hasn’t worked within Facebook for months and the developer just dropped off the face of the earth it seems! I wish you guys would spearhead a Facebook App that would work, and also work for WordPress.org blogs as well.
LikeLike
The developer of the Facebook app is part of the Automattic team. If you’re having trouble with your Facebook app, please contact Support.
LikeLike
Dear Matt and Co.,
WordPress.com is a marvel: In 3 weeks it has transformed me, a Web 1.0 professor who really wanted to get into blogging, into steady, devoted blogger who is gradually building a readership drawn from a diverse group of visitors.
When you folks started the wordpress.com side of your business, you opened up this medium to a host of new people. During these first weeks, I’ve been learning more about the program, adding a few widgets and pages to spruce up my blog, and enjoying myself tremendously.
It’s also a smart way to build business, as I will gladly pay for some added features along the way.
Thanks much, and best wishes to WordPress for a great 2009.
Sincerely,
David Yamada
LikeLike
I switched formatting from a very complicated base that was virtually inaccessible to dial-up users, to the very simple and elegant wordpress format. I love it! You guys have been very good to me. I look forward to continuing to utilize wordpress as a great resource in 2009! God Bless.
Jordan
LikeLike
A good march ahead for WordPress.com in the year 2008; lets make it and march more
fast and efficient in 2009.
LikeLike
As an addition to my New Year blog, I’d just like to say thanks to the WordPress team for the help and tuition I have received since starting my blog at the beginning of 2008.
I wish you all the good fortune that you wish for yourselves.
LikeLike
WordPress is biiig!
LikeLike
I LOVE it! Finally good to hear somebody’s doing good. Glad to be a part of wordpress!
LikeLike
@Will Rhodes-bookmark this for next year https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/odd?replies=16#post-286102 Thanks to that post by tellyworth, I was finally able to read the WordPress.COM blog posts about the new dashboard features. 🙂
My 3 active blogs probably account for .000000000000000000002% of the 161.1 terabytes of data transfer, but thanks a million for a fantastic year. Here’s to an even better 2009. Go Team WordPressdotcom!
LikeLike
¡Muchas gracias, mis felicitaciones!. Thank you.
LikeLike
allright, thanks a lot, man….!
LikeLike
Its a great work by WordPress for giving the offer to explore the world giving a medium to express one’s thoughts.
LikeLike
Thanks WordPress for the support and encouragement. The features past and future are exciting for a newbie like me. Here’s hoping the new year brings continued success to all endeavors.
LikeLike
just wondering, but how can i post a blog on here?
i am new to all this and i am a bit lost as well.
thanks!
LikeLike
To get started, check out Support.
LikeLike
Thanks for being creating such a wonderful platform let free of my ideas, thoughts, and dreams..
Wordpress has really been my online home, my online diary, for the past 3 months, since i’ve joined ..
Thankyou..:)
LikeLike
Considering the sheer size of the global community, your quick response to technical support questions is awesome! Thanks. More power to you and your team in 2009.
LikeLike
Thanks WordPress for having the best UI out of any of the blog sites out there. I started my first ever blog this year and am having a lot of fun with it! :]
LikeLike
I started a blog (and another for old my old blog) here this year because I used to be with Yahoo, and, you know… WordPress has been great. Love all the features and the attentive support. Keep up the fantastic work – I’m looking forward to seeing the new themes this coming year and any other new features. Happy new year to you all!
LikeLike
Great going. Keep it up. Thanks for providing the base to air our views. Happy New Year 2009 🙂
LikeLike
Fantastic WORDPRES FAMILY MEMBERS HERE from every part of the world—I LOVE TO SEE!
LikeLike
Thanks WordPress, this is great! I was happy to find you this year for my blogging needs. I too was pleased to read othertalent on here.
The yearly stats are amazing….do we currently have a function to translate the blogs that are written in other languages?
LikeLike
For users who want to read blogs in other languages, we suggest Google Translate.
Here’s an option for offering a translation of your own blog in another language:
1) Go to Google Translate – http://translate.google.com/
2) Under “Translate a Web Page”, enter the blog’s URL.
3) Choose your languages.
4) Click “Translate”.
5) You will see your web site translated. Copy and URL of the translation.
6) Add the link(s) to a Text Widget.
LikeLike
Great to meet you at Wordcamp Sydney… Look forward to 2009, further developments and projects from WordPress.. (And Wordcamp 2009)
LikeLike