Having a commercial version of WordPress alongside a non-profit version has been confusing. Especially to those starting out with WordPress, but not exclusively those new to it. It would be a great win for the WordPress Community if Automattic’s flagship product, WordPress.com, would rebrand itself to Jetpack.com. I have said this, half-jokingly, in the past decade to anyone who would listen. #sorrynotsorry.
But with WordPress.com now allowing for plugins and themes to be activated on their platform, the lines get even more blurry.
The Need to Make Money
Since Automattic is running on venture capital money, at some point it’s going to focus on monetization even more. If you have been paying close attention to how the sign-up between a stand-alone WordPress installation and Jetpack has changed over the last couple of months, you will have noticed. For a brief period, the free option was even hidden in the “Skip for now” button below the pricing table you’re greeted with when you connect Jetpack to your site.
You may have also noticed Automattic opening up their affiliate program. It includes Jetpack, WordPress.com, and everything WooCommerce now. All clear signs that Automattic has made monetization a higher priority in recent months. And judging by a tweet sent out yesterday at the Affiliate Summit, Jetpack is taking a very prominent role:
Changes in Branding
What’s even more interesting, navigating to the WordPress.com main page–make sure you’re logged out–will show you a WordPress frontpage without any signs of a W. Meaning the WordPress logo. I’m not sure when this changed, but it’s a very clear sign that WordPress.com’s branding is changing.
It’s just pure speculation on my part that this will lead to switching from WordPress.com to Jetpack.com, but I for one would welcome the change. I also think it will help send less of a mixed message for those entering the WordPress Community, Automattic’s affiliate program or both. 😉
Good catch and speculation, I can totally see it!
Hi Remkus, interesting article. I shared similar thoughts in the past and I absolutely agree that there is a noticeable change in strategy by Automattic. Venture capital is a two-way train ticket. Sure, you’ll get the funds to build your business, but at some point you need to deliver a return of investment. There actually is a pretty interesting article about that from 2016: http://www.sramanamitra.com/2016/01/07/2016-ipo-prospects-automattic-needs-to-justify-valuation/
I think there is nothing wrong with a company that is making a lot of money, it’s basically the purpose of a company. Otherwise it would rather be a charity organization. However, I think WordPress is a special case, it’s not a regular economy or market due to the history of WordPress and involvement of Automattic.
Making money with WordPress if you own the WordPress.com domain is a no-brainer. People who are new to WordPress simply don’t understand this whole .com / .org thing, why should they? Why would anyone name two different things basically the same? It’s extremely confusing, especially when the differences between the two are becoming more and more less obvious.
With the WordPress.com brand Automattic has in my opinion a huge advantage over the competition and I expect this will heavily pay off in the future. Especially if SaaS becomes more popular, if there are less restrictions on WordPress.com in comparison to self-hosted sites and then there is Gutenberg, which will change the market anyway. Gutenberg is the missing piece on WordPress.com, as it especially caters to their target audience (less experienced users). This of course also explains why they are pushing Gutenberg so hard, I actually would do the same.
Anyway, it will be very interesting to see where this leaves the competition and WordPress ecosystem in the future. It obviously can be quite a challenge to compete with a WordPress business that basically is branded as WordPress. Less experienced people often just want to get started with their site and this is what WordPress.com offers. With Gutenberg and the new direction of WordPress core, people basically will be educated that they don’t need to know anything and just press a few buttons to get started. It’s all tailored to what WordPress.com is offering.
A rebranding of WordPress.com obviously would solve most of these issues. After a rebranding Automattic would be a company like many others in the WordPress ecosystem, trying to get a piece of the cake with their own marketing efforts, without having the advantage of owning the branded domain. It would solve the .org / .com confusion and make the market a more fair playing field for all businesses, like it’s usually the case in a free market. However, is this ever going to happen? I don’t think so! Would you give up your cash cow? 😉
Very interesting read, just wondering though how well-known the Jetpack name really is, especially among WP newbies?