WordPress Gets ActivityPub Plugin Through Automattic Acquisition

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and Jetpack, has acquired the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress. The acquisition was announced on Automattic’s blog today.

ActivityPub is an open protocol that enables decentralized social networking services to communicate with each other over the web. It allows users to post content from one service to another in a secure manner, as well as follow and interact with people across different networks without having to create multiple accounts or log into multiple sites.

The ActivityPub plugin for WordPress was created by developer Diogo Sousa in 2018 and has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since then. With this acquisition, Automattic plans to integrate ActivityPub into its products such as Jetpack and WooCommerce so that they can take advantage of its features. This will enable users of these products to easily connect their websites with other social networks like Mastodon or Friendica without having to install additional plugins or write custom code.

In addition, Automattic also plans on using ActivityPub technology within its own network of websites powered by WordPress VIP hosting platform so that customers can share content between them securely and privately without relying on third-party services like Twitter or Facebook for cross-posting capabilities. This could be especially useful for businesses who want their employees’ posts shared only within their organization’s network instead of being broadcasted publicly online via those external platforms which may not always be appropriate depending on the nature of the content being shared.

By integrating ActivityPub into its existing products, Automattic hopes it will make it easier for developers and website owners alike to build connected experiences across different platforms while still maintaining control over how data is shared between them all – something which is increasingly important given recent privacy concerns surrounding major tech companies like Google and Facebook who have access to vast amounts of user data collected from various sources around the web including social media sites where many people are now spending most of their time online these days anyway (not just limited but also including activities such as shopping).

In addition, this move could potentially help boost adoption rates among smaller independent networks too since they would no longer need expensive infrastructure investments in order to interconnect with larger ones; instead they’d simply need support from compatible software running locally (such as Wordpress) in order for everything else work seamlessly together regardless if someone’s using a Mac computer versus Windows PC etcetera… Ultimately though what matters most here isn’t necessarily about any particular product per se but rather how we’re able use technology responsibly when connecting our digital lives together – something which should become even more important going forward given current trends towards decentralization taking place right now both inside & outside Silicon Valley circles alike!