Why I'm Bullish on WordPress

You may not have heard of WordPress, but if you surf the web every day, you're almost certainly using it. As of this writing, it powers an astonishing 66 million websites, including those of many mainstream media outlets like Forbes, CNN, and Reuters. (I personally run seven WordPress sites. My moderation issues are fodder for another time.) What's more, the content management is increasingly making inroads in enterprise IT.

Over the weekend, WordPress celebrated its ten-year anniversary. Around the globe, hundreds of events marked the occasion, and I attended a meetup near my home in Las Vegas.

Mulling the Future

I for one am very bullish on its future. I can't wait to see what happens with WordPress over the next ten years.

Now, that might seem strange. I have no crystal ball. It's never been tougher to make accurate, long-term predictions about technology and business. The tech landscape is littered with ostensibly intractable behemoths like MySpace, AOL, RIM, HP, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and others that have recently fallen from grace. Even erstwhile Wall Street darling Apple qualifies. So why such optimism?

Today, for an independent product, service, or company to survive (much less thrive), at least two things need to happen. First, its founder–or founders–needs to be committed to its long-term future. Second, that product, company, or service needs to keep evolving, and quickly at that.