NMX, the New Media Expo, was a conference for bloggers, podcasters and video creators. In 2015 it ran alongside the NAB Show in Las Vegas, and on Wednesday, April 15, its blogging track ended with a session by our founder, Brian Messenlehner: WordPress the Web OS. Building Beyond the Blog. The schedule sign put him in the 2:15 to 3:00 pm slot, right after a session on mobile apps for WordPress businesses.
A WordPress talk for creators
Most of the room were creators, not developers. They used WordPress every day to publish, and many had built real businesses on it. The goal of the talk was to show them that the tool they already used could do far more than publish posts.
The phrase web OS was a deliberate stretch. An operating system manages users, files, permissions and applications. WordPress does a version of each: it manages users and roles, stores media, controls who can do what, and runs plugins that act like applications. Seen that way, a blog is just the first app most people install.
Beyond the blog
For a creator audience, building beyond the blog meant concrete things:
- Memberships, so loyal readers can pay for premium content and community.
- Online stores with WooCommerce for merch, digital downloads and sponsorship packages.
- Courses with a learning management plugin, turning expertise into a product.
- Communities with BuddyPress, so the audience can talk to each other and not only to the creator.
- Mobile apps that bring all of it to the home screen with push notifications.
Each of those can live on the same WordPress install, with one login and one admin, rather than on five separate SaaS tools that do not talk to each other.
What has changed since
In 2015, stitching these pieces together took real development work. Today the plugins are more mature and the patterns are well known, but the core advice from NMX still holds. Own your platform. Keep your audience data in a system you control. Add capabilities as your business grows instead of migrating to a new platform each time.
That is a big part of how AlphaWeb works with creators and publishers. We build sites that start as content platforms and grow into membership sites, stores, learning platforms and apps without starting over.
Why the timing was good
The session right before Brian's covered mobile apps for WordPress businesses, which made for an easy handoff. Apps and the web OS idea go together: once WordPress is managing your users and content, an app is another window into the same system.
If you are a creator or publisher who has outgrown a basic blog, AlphaWeb can help you build beyond it.
At a glance
- Event: NMX (New Media Expo), alongside the NAB Show
- Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2015
- Location: Las Vegas
- Track: Blogging
- Session: WordPress the Web OS. Building Beyond the Blog, 2:15 to 3:00 pm
Related: WordPress as an Application Framework: Web Apps, Mobile Apps and Headless, WordCamp Sofia 2013: WordPress as an Application Framework and TIME Healthland and Techland.
Have a question about this event or a project like the ones mentioned here? Reach out to AlphaWeb and Brian will be glad to talk it through. We are always happy to compare notes on WordPress, mobile apps and migrations.
