There are striking similarities between Facebook and WordPress.
1. Openness.
In a brilliant move, facebook opened its platform for external developers around the globe earlier this year. Thousands of developers tapped into its “social map” database and develop interesting applications, adding much value to facebook.
WordPress has been open source project since its birth. Thousands of users and developers develop, use, and contribute to its ecosystem. The ecosystem around wordpress is vibrant, healthy and thriving.
Give and take, embrace and extend, endorse and enlarge. That is the power of being open.
2. Hyper growth.
Facebook has over 400% growth rate this year. WordPress has about 390%.
According to current quantcast tracking, in October 2007, facebook has 23 million U.S. monthly unique vistors; wordpress has 22 million. Facebook is ranked #21, wordpress is ranked #22.
3. Spirit of Web 2.0
Young entrepreneurs are at the forefront of the new new thing. Facebook founder is 23 years old, so is wordrpess founder.
Both facebook and wordpress have defied traditional wisdom and achieved the impossible. I remember when I visited Microsoft campus in November 2006, I chatted with a good friend who was a senior engineer there, he laughed heartedly at facebook being “non-technical stuff”. Well, Steve Ballmer was laughing recently after facebook accepted his $240 million 🙂
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