How to Build Your Own WordPress Micro-Blogging Platform with Front-End, Multimedia Posting

Blogging can be a little bit overwhelming when staring at a blank post editing screen. This is one reason why micro-blogging sites have been a huge hit. There’s no pressure to fill up the page with words and write a full-sized blog.

If you can provide your users the opportunity to make quick, short updates, you’ll be more likely to have a lively, constant stream of content. It’s one of the things that makes Facebook and Twitter so approachable.

The Importance of Front-End Posting

Front-end posting is hands down the most important feature of any successful micro-blogging community. Keeping bloggers outside of the dashboard is absolutely key. Offer convenience and users will repay you with content.

That’s where the Status plugin provides a crucial piece of functionality. It transforms your WordPress site into a micro-blogging platform by adding front-end, multimedia posting capabilities. The Status plugin makes posting a blog the easiest thing in the world because it bypasses the dashboard. It adds a status box on the front-end where logged-in users can quickly publish a post.

The Status plugin functions very similar to the way you experience posting on Facebook or Google+. Features include:

• Post quick status updates to your WordPress website
• Post from your WordPress dashboard and/or from the front-end of the site
• Edit the title and description
• Choose the thumbnail you wish to use for the status post

One of the main advantages of this plugin is that the UI is very self-explanatory. For example, if you want to post a link, it’s clear that if you just paste in the URL, the thumbnail and excerpt will appear. You also get the chance to preview your post before it’s published.

Create Your own Micro-Blogging Platform

Couple the Status plugin with WordPress multisite and you can easily create your own micro-blogging platform in two simple steps:

• 1. Enable Multisite for your installation of WordPress – We have a very helpful guide that will walk you through the steps for turning on multisite.
• 2. Activate the Status plugin networkwide – This plugin is made to work smoothly with multisite. Visit Network Admin >> Plugins and Network Activate the Status plugin.

Make Money with the Status Plugin and Supporter Combined

Creating a blogging community with premium upgrades is one of the most powerful ways to monetize a WordPress multisite network.

If you want to charge users for access to micro-blogging, the Supporter plugin enables you to sell access to the functionality as a premium upgrade. In this case the Status plugin is activated on a blog-by-blog basis as users pay to add the plugin. This is all handled automatically for you through the Supporter plugin so that you don’t have to turn anything on for users who make a purchase. Supporter handles the payments and manages access while you focus on building your community.

The Status plugin is indispensable if you want to make the process of posting blogs completely fool-proof and user friendly. At $39 for unlimited use on as many sites as you want, it’s an absolute steal. If you combine that with the Supporter plugin to monetize your multisite network, it’s really a no-brainer purchase for building your community. Purchase both individually or grab a membership to get full access to 300+ WordPress themes and plugins.