WordPress.com VIP Simplifies Real-Time Blogging With Liveblog Add-On

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Automattic, the company behind the popular Web publishing platform WordPress.com VIP, today announced the Liveblog Add-On for WordPress.com VIP customers. As media sites increasingly rely on live blogging during major events, the add-on gives participating customers the easiest and most flexible publishing environment to post and make updates in, as quickly as possible. The add-on, which integrates directly into WordPress.com VIP, includes an unlimited number of live blogs as well as an unlimited number of visitors.

WordPress.com VIP is Automattic's service designed for large-scale enterprises including top media companies, sports leagues and Fortune 500 companies that generate one billion page views in total each month.

Compatible with all modern browsers, the Liveblog Add-On makes live blogging even faster by allowing authors to post updates from the front-end of a site and drag-and-drop photos into their live blogs without navigating into a separate browser. Additionally, new entries are served instantly and automatically to all visitors without the need to refresh the browser. This add-on eliminates the need for a separate site dedicated to live blogging and enables sites to scale for large live events. The Liveblog Add-On requires no code or additional setup, is mobile optimized for visitors, and can be used by authors on any modern smartphone.

"With the Liveblog Add-On, our WordPress.com VIP customers can deliver real-time information to their readers as quickly and seamlessly as possible during major live events," said Raanan Bar-Cohen, vice president of media services, Automattic. "This new feature also takes the hassle out of creating and maintaining your own live blogging solution or the need to use a 3rd party tool."

The Liveblog Add-On is available for WordPress.com VIP cloud hosting clients for $500 USD per month, with an annual subscription. Additionally, Automattic open sourced the add-on as a self-hosted WordPress.org plugin. The code is also available on GitHub to make the liveblog technology accessible for all WordPress.org developers.

The entire WordPress platform continues to see impressive growth; currently, 16.8% of the top million sites run on WordPress. Additionally, WordPress.com VIP recently expanded its Featured Partner Program to include agencies and new platforms including Facebook and Flipboard. For more information on using the Liveblog Add-On please visit http://vip.wordpress.com/liveblog-add-on/. For a full list of WordPress.com VIP customers pleas visit http://vip.wordpress.com/clients/.

About Automattic

Automattic offers a network of web services for online publishers including WordPress.com, VIP hosting and support, VaultPress, Akismet, VideoPress, Polldaddy, IntenseDebate, Gravatar, and more. The Automattic network attracts over half a billion worldwide unique visitors every month. For more information, visit http://automattic.com/.

SOURCE Automattic