Automattic Acquires Plugin to Allow WordPress.com Blogs to Join the Fediverse

WordPress.com owner Automattic has acquired an ActivityPub plugin, allowing WordPress-powered blogs to join the Fediverse.

The acquisition was announced today by Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress. The plugin is called “Fediverse” and it allows users to post content from their blog on other platforms in the Fediverse such as Mastodon, Pleroma, PeerTube and more. This means that bloggers can now reach a much larger audience than before with their posts being shared across multiple networks at once.

ActivityPub is an open protocol for decentralized social networking which enables communication between different services over the internet. It was developed by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) as part of its Social Web Working Group initiative in 2018 and has since been adopted by many popular social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. With this new plugin, WordPress users will be able to join the growing list of services using ActivityPub technology to share content across multiple networks simultaneously without having to manually post each piece individually on each platform they wish to use.

This move marks a major shift for Automattic who have traditionally focused solely on providing hosting solutions for WordPress websites rather than developing plugins or applications themselves. However, with this acquisition they are clearly looking towards expanding their offerings beyond just hosting services into areas such as social media integration which could potentially open up new revenue streams for them in the future if successful enough amongst users.

The Fediverse plugin is currently available free of charge but there are plans for premium features down the line which would allow users access additional functionality such as analytics tools or customizations options when posting content across multiple networks at once via ActivityPub technology enabled through this plugin specifically designed for WordPress powered blogs/sites only .

Automattic’s decision to acquire an ActivityPub Plugin shows that they are serious about staying ahead of trends within web development technologies while also giving customers more options when it comes to how they choose distribute their content online – something that could prove invaluable in terms of marketing potential given how interconnected our world has become thanks largely due advances made within digital communications over recent years .

It remains unclear exactly what impact this move will have upon existing blogging platforms like Medium or Tumblr but one thing is certain; Automattic’s acquisition signals a clear commitment towards embracing modern web technologies while also offering customers greater flexibility when it comes sharing information online – something that should be welcomed news both current & prospective customers alike moving forward .