Want to see a cool trick? Open up a new browser tab and type “wp.com” into the address bar.
Whoa! It just redirected you to WordPress.com.
I could do that all day. 🙂
Yes it’s true, Automattic is now the proud owner of WP.com, which we acquired from our buddies over at Yahoo! We’ve been using WP.com as internal shorthand for this site for years now, and ever since we figured out four or five years ago that Yahoo had that domain (as opposed to the Washington Post or something) we’ve been doing our best to get it, a journey that culminated in ultimate success a few days ago.
WP.com seemed like a great fit: people’s attention spans are getting shorter every day. Wow the weather is great in San Francisco today. Also it’s seven keystrokes shorter to type in, which multiplied by the hundreds of millions of times people visit the site every year will be a huge productivity boost to our troubled economy and prevent RSI in a large percentage of the population.
But beyond just redirecting wp.com to wordpress.com I wanted to throw something out to you guys:
What should we do with WP.com?
Leave your answer in the comments and we’ll put it into the Automattic idea machine and crunch something out at the end.
WordPress.com News 
WP.com should be used to be able to create TinyURL links. It’s perfect for this.
The only way it will be successful is if WordPress overall improves the security on the platform for hosted as well non-hosted. It should be like what NY Times did for their tinyurl — ie: NYT.
But, given the security flaws, a TinyURL link can’t really be “highly” trusted from WordPress.
The key to make this a great platform, is ensure a major lightweight plugin that actually works for all.
Then a TinyURL like WP – can be used on all applications, the major one being Twitter right now.
I think that WordPress is the most popular platform by far, but the others are quickly catching up in their own right. What better place to showcase the ways that WordPress is influencing not just blogging, but forums and social networking too?
So how about a really cleverly designed portal type page linking to all of the WordPress related projects, like MU, bbPress/TalkPress, and BuddyPress?
It would use wp.com as a totally new site to help showcase all of the *Press projects together in a way that highlights the individual strengths of all of them, yet still tightly integrates them together.
Or you could start a whole new project for fun, like WackyPirates, WednesdayPie, or WombatParty.
cool! 😀
a) keep it as a redirect
b) use it for something short and snappy; url shortener, something Twitterish, heavy on the social networking.
c) sell it to WaPo for 3x what you paid for it?
why the blog still domain.wordpress.com? it will be great if domain.wp.com redirect to domain.wordpress.com
Do you think you could give an alternative to bloggers to use wp.com for their blog URLs? For example, from myunsaidthoughts.wordpress.com, I could use it to say myunsaidthoughts.wp.com. That would be really short and cool.
I am sure that i’m not the first one who thinks about it, but it would be nice to tell people that my URL is aharoni.wp.com instead of aharoni.wordpress.com .
It may make the wordpress.com brand a bit weaker, but maybe it will also make the frequent confusion between wp.org and wp.com weaker, too. (But then i am totally not a marketing person.)
If this domain will be added to all blogger’s domains ?
like
.wordpress.com
.wp.com
Will both redirect to a user’s blog ?
Nice.
Congratulations on your acquisition. It makes good sense to have that domain as well. What I think you could do is offer us bloggers a domain choice for our blogs. Currently my two blogs are mikelclassen.wordpress.com and midnightramblin.wordpress.com. I think that if they were mikelclassen.wp.com and midnightramblin.wp.com there is more emphasis on our individual blog names without having to actually directly purchase our own domains. It also makes it easier when I try to relate my blog address to prospective readers to have the wp instead of the entire wordpress name. Even better yet, allow both addresses to work for an individual blog and allow the blogger to make the choice for their own promotion purposes.
that’s really cool. i just love shortcuts 😉
Give it to me 😛
leave it as a redirect.. its easier/quicker to type lol
You now what… it just hit me: what if instead typing for example http://www.secretultau.wordpress.com to get to my blog, one can type http://www.secretultau.wp.com ! Can you make this work? Good luck! 🙂
PS: sorry for double posting!
good 😉
wow! that’s great… fun to know the ‘trick’ 🙂
please make it possible to use them with the blog’s urls (like “lefttosay.wp.com”)
Can I give suggestions??
Create WP API in java, .net,
allow user to get notification by sms when someone comments on their blog,
post reply to comment via mobile,
wap.wp.com => wordpress mobile site!!,
Allow free users to post ads on their blog(new WP Ads??),
what about WP social network??
Start doing something new, don’t just stick with the blogs,
I think you are more than a blog company.
I know of one thing that would be great: let the free accounts be accessed through accountname.wp.com instead of the long version! It would get non-english-speaking people to remember the URL more easily.
I know what you’re thinking: as a URL shortening service, like Posterous’ post.ly or Techcrunch’s tcrn.ch
Have it redirect or show the content of the actual page, such as have http://user.wp.com/year/mn/dy/article/ show the content of http://user.wordpress.com/year/mn/dy/article/
Provide even more tracking information than does bit.ly
I just tried myname.wp.com instead of myname.wordpress.com, but I was taken to your home page, not my blog home page. That is what I expected.
Great news, firstly do a proper alias for blogs. like http://prototypemaderal.wordpress.com/ becomes http://prototypemaderal.wp.com/
Congrats!
Perhaps forward it to a random WordPress blog (from a pre-selected list for security/good taste reasons) in a “blog of the day fashion” or similar.
With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, you could create an amazing short URL service!
Make the internet adresses for the Blogs shorter. Example: xxx.wp.com instead of xxx.wordpress.com
redirect wordpress.com to wp.com
Great!
make it a major site map so people can know about you and your services that you offer.
WordPress for people with ultra-short attention spans? I thought that already existed!
But still, congratulations 🙂
I think it should feature a daily haiku. Or single worded poems (comprised of whichever amount of letters you like).
Nice Trick 🙂
congratulation…
not so useful.. but at least i just need to write 2 letter and press ctrl+enter… =)
a better idea: buy http://identi.ca and make wp.com a microbloging… the wordpress microblog
Offer a shortening service for wordpress.com blogs! More twitter friendly, less internet rot from tinyurl and the like.
Build rel=”shortlink” into pages to serve the shortened versions. (http://groups.google.com/group/shortlink)
is it just a kind of shortcut? i mean, the advantage is because of its shortness? if it so, what is the significance then?
Super-short URLs. Make wp.com/somehash redirects for every post.
Congratulations on owning wp.com!
I was thinking of using it for URL shortening via the revCanonical proposal that I read some time ago. Not sure how feasible it would be for all the WordPress.com blog posts/pages to be shortened this way.
This is the link:
Just an idea for the Automattic idea machine! 🙂
how about a url shortener service, dedicated to wordpress.com/.org urls?
Hi, great news on securing the domain. Aside from being short cut to WordPress.com, you could use it as an innovation showcase – people using WordPress in lots of different ways.
Love the recent upgrade too, keep up the great work.
Well, congratulation for Automattic. First thing comes to my mind is WP.com could make people who use small gadget (smartphone, ipod etc.) easier to access WordPress –since its not quite convenience to push virtual keyboard’s keys.
I suggest (hmmm) Automattic to develop WP.com into simple, direct and handy version of WordPress.com for mobile gadget user.
Well it’s just an instant thought. I’ll try to think about it more. Bye, Good Luck Automattic. Long live for WPCommunity
Wow! That will help me very much!
You should use it to begin to create a portal-like jump page that would feature:
Information culled from WordPress blogs
Free WordPress features and services
Paid features, INCLUDING themes you could purchase (because aren’t themes just the ringtones of the internet?)
Wordpress.org features and services
minimal advertising
You provide a great service. Thanks.
domin wp.com for all blogs Go0Od !
What about making wp.com to an alternate link to *.wordpress.com?
For example: webderwunder.wordpress.com = webderwunder.wp.com
That would be great…
Maik
cool! it really works, dear.LoL
Welcome to the two-letter club 🙂
We use your fantastic platform on MO.com
Enjoy the new asset.
It is, of course, the perfect shortcut especially when you consider the shrinking lack of attention span. This is good news. Now – to get the word out!
No responses yet?!
OK, how about a short URL service?
“What should we do with WP.com?”
Maybe turn it as an URL optiont for new and/or already registered blogs?
Allow blog owners to change their blog addresses to whatever.wp.com instead of whatever.wordpress.com? Quicker to type, of course. My admittedly selfish 2¢ suggestion at your request…
WP.com could simply become the new WordPress, the way that Hewlett-Packard became HP. They use HP on everything now. Abrreviation is trendy, for the time being anyway.
Ok, what you should do I with WP.com I don’t know, at least not now.
Thanks, Matt, for making one more tiny part of my day a little easier.
Does WP.com work with my own URL? I mean, will it redirect if I type in http://krysslovacek.wp.com??
Great.
How about allowing blogs to be renamed 123.wp.com instead of the current 123.wordpress.com?
A URL shortening service, of course!!
Assalamualaikum/peace be upon you
thts a gr8 idea…
i have a suggestion actually
(i tried it and it didnt work so it would be cool)
instead of just having wp.com y not use the initials wp for our domain names istead of .wordpress.com
eg. my blog hal786
instead of how it normally is have it as hal786.wp.com
it’s be much easier for veryone to use
(your domain name).wp.com instead of (your sites name).wordpress.com
hope that helps!
Just an obvious suggestion: perhaps one could have an “extended” redirect so that one would be automatically redirected from an URL like http://myblog.wp.com to http://myblog.wordpress.com ? This could attract more users to wordpress.com.
Use it as a place to login and write a quick post (like Twitter) without any clutter from other blogs. So I go to wp.com on my iPhone, login, and write a quick post. It could be Word Press.com’s mobile site.
a 2 letter dot com is quite a level of achievement for any fancy blog … i would advertise it on all the news sites
less to type!!
Well, since nobody else seems interested, maybe you should just redirect it to my blog 😉
cool 😀
Maybe have it go to a different front page with a flashy intro/video, then Redirect.. I wouldn’t think you would want to get to far out there with it, since like you, said people are going to be using it since its shorter.
Can we use WP.com in our blog addresses? whateveryourblogis.wp.com?
How awesome would it be if I could have my blog at blogname.WP.com? I vote for very awesome indeed.
A URL shortening service – every WordPress post short automatically get assigned a WP.com/123xyz type URL for use in Twitter etc.
heh! all our addresses could become:
username.wp.com!
Verily your contribution to preventing RSI!
You should give it to me 🙂
1. Give us more space like 6 GB and have it as a frame.
I discovered this news via WordPress Hacks and agree it would be a great opportunity for use in the mobile sphere.
You could offer hosted mobile sites on sub-domains of wp.com (or wp.mobi if you can get it) PLUS use the default domain name for short URLs, ala tr.im and tinyurl.com.
Congratulations on a landmark acquisition thought. I know Yahoo use WordPress for many of their corporate blogs so no doubt a reasonable deal was met with the friendly Sunnyvale guys.
goatse
Ha!
Congrats!
Do a contest for the best blog post on WP.com
Idea: Short url service similar to what Digg is rolling out with but specifically for WordPress.com blogs!
ie:
“http://wp.com/jh78G” could point to “https://wordpress.com/blog/2009/04/24/wpcom/”
Interesting. I suggest:
a) wp.com by itself is redirected to wordpress.com or additional wordpress tutorial (with an option to check to not show again) or multimedia guide on first visit.
b) several sections would be created. My first thought is WordPress Professionals (hence – WP) where there should be a listing of WordPress professionals by country and other segmentation. To qualify for free membership WPs would have to proof they’ve done at least 25 WordPress blogs/projects (by entering URLs and background script would check if pro is listed in meta author tag or there’s a link to his personal/company site – so no manual work!).
Non-qualified members would have to pay a monthly/yearly fee to be included in the directory but would have to provide at least 5 URLs of their WordPress blogs/projects. Funds would be used to run the site and maybe also WordPress development.
The point here? Community (forum!?) and ideas of WordPress pros which are or not directly involved in WordPress development. And a chance to hear and use their ideas – and yes, maybe get some new projects for them, for proven quality work (who can compete with South African developers on RentACoder.com offering to create a blog for $5? I do not want to insult anyone but that is happenning last two years).
c) another section idea – World Projects. That should be a showcase for noncommercial WordPress blogs/projects created for non-profit, charity etc organizations. Submission would be successful only if provided with proof (from organization) and there would be a voting for quality and use of WordPress features. Each month some funds (maybe from section before) could be awarded for best blog/site made with WordPress and given to organization. Mmm, maybe part of that award should go to blog’s creator if he provides valid student id etc (no commercial entity).
So I wouldn’t mix commercial sites here. They could be seen on three best sites portfolio in WordPress Professionals profiles (if it would be added or created in the beginning).
OK, waiting to read other ideas.
Matt S. Rinc
http://sergejrinc.com
thats so cool!!!
Yahoo must be feeling alot of pain if they finally gave it up. I think it was be cool if we could use WP in our url’s instead of having to type out WordPress for our blogs.
I’d like to see WP.com also redirect to the blogs here, for example if someone entered http://disneyecho.wp.com it would be redirected to http://disneyecho.wordpress.com — and the same for all the other blogs here, too, for them to be redirected to their own main blog page. Is that possible for you to do that with WP.com?
congrat for buying the domain, it is now am easier to go to my wordpress.com dashboard from any machine
Well, I wouldn’t use your domain mapping service if you want WP.com to see any WordPress.com or WP.com search referrals from Google until 2010.
You could redirect such that blog.wp.com redirects to blog.wordpress.com! That would be cool!
Nice. Maybe another type of hosting site? One that will allow scripts *cough cough* lol Seriously though, a maybe a file hosting site? Something cool.
Haha, I like this shortcut. Great things are done step by step.
Short urls are good for url shorting services. You could have short codes to posts on wordpress.com hosted blogs, or perhaps open it up to all wordpress users as a plugin.
You should make it possible to use “blogname.wp.com” instead of “blogname.wordpress.com.”
Leave it as a redirect. No one wants to try and remember which of two URLs they need to use to find something they’re looking for.
yourblogname.wp.com would be cool!
Well, now its faster to go on wordpress.com… Uh, I wanted to say on wp.com 😉
create a cloning of twitter using WP.com. fantastic..
Give it to African Press International. LOL! (if you know anything about them, this would be funny)
Hey, how about opening up a blog exclusively for comedy posts? Call it “Witty people”. In hard economic times, people need something to laugh about…and it would be great if they could stop in one place, for all things funny.
Oh, I know! You could make it the place for all things George Bush…ya know, “W”….pee……
Definitely use it to offer everyone a shorter blog address. blog.wp.com
My life has been forever changed for the better with this development.
You know what would be so great? If we used acronyms for everything from now on, and abolished actual language altogether. Words are for suckers. SUCKERS. I mean, just as an example? Words can never express the anguish and inconvenience that I have felt when I’ve had to waste precious seconds typing “wordpress” instead of “wp.” Words let me down on that one, baby. YOU SAW IT COMING.
Okay, let’s be real for a moment, yeah? My rage is not specifically directed at you, wp.com. My rage is directed at brand-based acronyms across the universe. What the frig is the tragedy of using a thing’s entire name? It’s not like it’s John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt, you know? And if someone thinks their name sucks so bad, why didn’t they use an acronym in the first place? It’s not as if the kind of people who can’t function in a world where proper names reign are going to care if the acronym makes any sense.
WP… Washington Post, as someone noted above. Or else WP Kinsella, who had a brief but bitter affair with Evelyn Lau, who later published a notorious essay on the subject entitled “Me and WP.” That’s what WP means to me, hot stuff: brief but bitter affairs with Evelyn Lau.
😦
I think Chris Thomson, above, nailed it:
From the the above suggestions, the most most useful amalgamation would be
username.wp.com = username.wordpress.com
username.wp.com/2005/09/25/post-title/ = username.wordpress.com/2005/09/25/post-title/
… but, ALSO, act as a URL shortener:
wp.com/ewldx = username.wordpress.com/2005/09/25/post-title/
… and use the new canonical tag to pump all that Google Juice back to the main domain, WordPress.com.
Using wp.com as a shortener, automatically created for every WordPress.com post, would heighten the visibility of WordPress on Twitter, a reminder that, far from heralding the demise of blogging, one of the main things worth tweeting about is great blog posts.