One contrary point of view came from an interesting and influential voice this week — WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg, who was interviewed by AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher at SXSW Interactive.

“Why are so many companies set into this factory model?” Mullenweg asked. “Find the best people you can and let them do their work.”

Of Automattic’s 150 employees, only around 20 come in to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, Mullenweg said. The rest are spread around the world. And that has been the company’s philosophy from its founding 7 years ago.

“We have the technology,” the well-known tech innovator said, referring to software that allows employees to connect in a variety of different ways, such as video and text, both synchronously and asynchronously.

For more on Mullenweg’s comments about the future of blogging and WordPress, check out our wider coverage. 

Full disclosure: many employees of Marketing Land’s parent company, Third Door Media, work from home offices.

But, Matt Mullenweg, a founding developer of WordPress and of Automattic, told an audience at SXSW Interactive that signups for WordPress have increased “every single year” and the average length of a blog post has also stayed steady, at about 280 words.

“Certain ideas need to be expressed and a man needs more than 140 characters,” Mullenweg said. He was interviewed by AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher for the session, titled “A Home on the Web: The State of Blogging in 2013.”

When WordPress came onto the blogging scene, in 2005, it was neither the first, nor the most popular blogging platform. The big names then were Blogger, later acquired by Google, and SixApart, which was later merged into SayMedia.

“The interesting thing about WordPress is that we don’t have the most users of any of these services, but we do have the best users,” Mullenweg told the audience. Once bloggers become serious about it, he explained, they generally move to WordPress.

Most Web Advertising Is Ugly

Indeed, many content marketers and advertising-supported online publications — including Search Engine Land and Marketing Land — use WordPress as their content management system. But, although WordPress has become an important tool for marketers, advertisers, and publishers, Mullenweg is dismissive about online advertising, saying it’s just plain ugly in most cases.

“Quality [advertising] hasn’t shifted online,” he said. “Print ads are still infinitely better than anything you see on a website.”

But, if those ads improve — through custom integrations or so-called “native advertising” — Mullenweg would be totally behind that, even though he doesn’t see his role as being part of the advertising and marketing world. “It’s not core to our DNA,” he said. “We’re going to innovate on the platform.”

The Future Of WordPress

That innovation will come in a number of areas, according to Mullenweg. First, the WordPress WYSIWYG visual editor interface leaves much to be desired in its current iteration. One should be able to put images and videos easily into WordPress content, without looking at code, he said, but that’s not currently possible.

Another area of focus will be on connections and people. One “like” from someone you know could mean a thousand times more to you than one from a random stranger, but the current stats-focused analytics don’t reflect that reality. WordPress may also soon be able to push notifications to a site owner’s mobile device whenever comments come in, so they could moderate comments and respond immediately.

Mullenweg says Automattic takes its cues from what it sees users doing on the WordPress platform. “The cool thing about WordPress users in particular is that they tend to be at the very, very bleeding edge,” he said, meaning it’s possible to determine what’s up-and-coming, what users want and need, by observing the current usage. Right now, Twitter embeds are seeing a surge in popularity, though YouTube and still images are still most popular of all.

Asked what sites he thinks are doing the best job using WordPress in the current media environment, Mullenweg mentioned Quartz, a newly-launched publication from Atlantic Media Company. The site stands out because every page is treated as its own entry point, as a sort of home page, at a time when more and more people navigate directly to permalinks shared in social media, rather than finding content via a site’s homepage. Another outstanding example cited by Mullenweg was The Next Web, because of its use of responsive design. “Every new design can and should be totally responsive,” he added.

Is Social Media Competition?

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr, rather than being threats to blogging, are, instead, “the start of the funnel,” that eventually drives “tons of traffic” to blogs. “It used to be half of your traffic came from search engines,” said Mullenweg. Now, social media has “breathed a second wind into blogs.” Fundamentally, he added, “they are about linking out, which is kind of cool.”

Why has WordPress become the default blogging CMS, while its competitors seemed to wither away?, Swisher asked.

“I don’t think they really understood personal publishing. They still don’t. None of those companies do,” he said, adding that people “don’t want their online expression of themselves to look like everyone else’s…. People want control; people want flexibility and freedom and they want things that connect, as well. The nice thing about being an independent company is that we’re Swiss — we can work with anyone and everyone and connect them all together.”

Mullenweg also weighed in on the great work-from-home debate. 

In a blog post, Battelle says Brown came to him earlier this year saying she wanted “to move on and do something smaller and more directly related to content creation.” Though the two initially tried to think of a candidate to replace Brown, Battelle eventually decided to come back to full time work at the company he founded in 2005. Brown isn’t yet talking about her next venture but said that news would be forthcoming in a couple of weeks.

Battelle Changes His Mind

Though Battelle originally brought Brown in to be an experienced executive to grow the company, he now says he’s changed his mind and believes he has the passion and knowledge to take the helm again.

Under Brown, FMP diversified its offerings and operations away from its origins as a “conversational media” network representing top-trafficked blogs and social media sites. The company’s most dramatic shift was signaled by its acquisition of Lijit Networks in 2011, as well as the purchase of TextDigger technology in 2010. With those assets, the company began to explore programmatic opportunities and grow the number of properties upon which it could place ads.

With that evolution also came a shift that got a lot of industry-watchers talking in late 2012 — the abandonment of the direct sales of banner ads, which resulted in layoffs of 24 employees, less than 10% of the company’s staffers. The change was meant to allow the company to use programmatic solutions for standard banner ads, while, on the other hand, crafting customized, native integrations for larger clients.

The Media Company Of Tomorrow

“I am utterly convinced that the media company of tomorrow will have both a technology-driven programmatic foundation, as well as the ability to execute bespoke, beautiful ideas on behalf of the entire media ecosystem – creators, marketers, and communities,” wrote Battelle in today’s blog post.

In January, the company crowed about becoming the third-largest US ad network and the fourth largest display ad player in the world, after comScore released its December 2012 report. At that time, FMP said it reached 193 million unique visitors monthly in the US, representing over 87% of American Internet users.

Brown’s departure will likely be seen as an unsettling development, as Battelle has been seen as a visionary ideas guy, rather than a hands-on manager. That said, under Brown, the company gained several notable executives, including Walter Knapp, currently the EVP of Platform Revenue and Operations at FMP, who joined with the Lijit Networks acquisition.

Disclosure: I was an employee of Federated Media Publishing for several years and remain a shareholder. 

“With the Ads API, marketers now have more tools in their arsenal to help them deliver the right message, to the right audience, on the desktop and on mobile devices — all at scale,” wrote April Underwood, Twitter’s product manager for revenue, in a blog post.

Advertisers placing ads on Twitter via the API will be able to set budgets and schedules, as well as target by location, interest groups, device types and other demographic information.

Here’s what the interface looks like on HootSuite:

Adobe says it has been testing the API using its own accounts, as well as those of clients Threadless and Levi Strauss & Co. With its own account for Adobe Marketing Cloud, it used Promoted Accounts to increase the follower base by 63%, while decreasing the cost-per-follow by 60%, bringing it down to around $2.00.

In a press release, TBG Digital touted the API’s ability to let brands more easily capitalize on the second-screen phenomenon, since Twitter so often accompanies live television watching. “People are watching television and reading tweets at the same time – so the best results come from campaigns created with technology that can harvest, manage and respond to information about those reactions efficiently,” said Simon Mansell, CEO of TBG.

To expand beyond the original five beta partners, Twitter plans to expand the Twitter Certified Products Program so that ad tools can receive certification.

In a blog post announcing the global relationship, Yahoo said, “By adding Google to our list of world-class contextual ads partners, we’ll be able to expand our network, which means we can serve users with ads that are even more meaningful.”

Yahoo already displays contextual advertising as part of Bing’s content network, and last September, it announced a deal to open its own contextual advertising network in partnership with Bing and Media.net.

Given CEO Marissa Mayer’s relationship with the folks at Google, and the fact that she recently poached former Googler Henrique de Castro to be her chief operating officer, it’s not a huge surprise to see Yahoo working with Google. Still, Microsoft probably isn’t thrilled, given the move indicates some insufficiency of the Bing alliance — which hasn’t delivered the hoped-for results to Yahoo.

Speculation as to whether a more comprehensive tie-up between Yahoo and Google is in store will no doubt abound. The Bing deal for algorithmic and paid search isn’t set to expire until 2019. News of the new Yahoo/Google relationship was first reported by AllThingsD.

And now, the company newly renamed BlackBerry has set the stage for its devices and operating system to mount a comeback. Should, or how should, mobile marketers prepare for the opportunities enabled by the new device and OS?

Assessing Its Chances

Whether the BlackBerry 10 OS, and the two new devices introduced yesterday, have a future or not depends on who you listen to. The New York Times’ David Pogue seems generally positive, while Forbes declared the debut a “Bomb.” Some are saying the BlackBerry stock-price drop yesterday means people see the launch as a failure, but Goldman Sachs reiterated its “buy” rating, urging its clients to use the price drop as an opportunity for scooping up shares.

Search Engine Land contributing editor Greg Sterling, who focuses closely on mobile, had this to say:

“It seems like the company’s attempt to create a credible iPhone and Android competitor has met with mixed results. Most of the “hands on” reviews are positive but mixed. BB really needed a fantastic device to “come back.” The Z10 may be able to retain some existing BB users who might have defected. However it doesn’t seem strong enough to capture new users or win back those who’ve abandoned the platform.”

It’s promising that BlackBerry has rounded up all four major U.S. carriers to carry its new handsets, which gives them at least a fighting chance against the more well-established iPhone and Android devices. Additionally, the company has been hard at work courting developers to create apps for the new OS — it launches with more than 70,000 apps and developers like Disney, Cisco, Foursquare, Skype and Rovio on board. The company is even offering a guarantee to developers that they’ll earn at least $10,000 in 12 months with their BlackBerry-specific app.

Additionally, BlackBerry has negotiated with media companies to make available a substantial music and video library to rival Google’s and Apple’s to at least level the playing field in that area.

The proof, of course, will be in the actual sales, which won’t be measurable for some time, at least in the US, since the devices won’t be available until March.

“I think we’re at least a quarter from calling this a success or not based on (actual) shipments to consumers,” Chris Silva, mobile analyst for Altimeter Group, told me via email. “I have seen a lot of positive banter on the platform, but that’s a far cry from plunking down $200 plus two years on a contract for a device that, as of now, has not got a proven store of applications users want aside from its trademark email, contacts and calendar.”

The Audience

For years, BlackBerry was the “enterprise” device of choice, because data security and IT folks at big corporations were comfortable with BlackBerry. Even President Obama uses a BlackBerry (still), when, at one time, people speculated whether even a laptop could be made secure enough for White House matters.

So any marketer wanting to reach a business audience would have had to make their apps BlackBerry-friendly, if they wanted to get big corporations on board.

But, IT administrators have had to adapt in recent years, as more and more corporate teams have adopted iPhones or Android. Now that they’re comfortable with that, would big corporations push to go back to BlackBerry? If not, who will marketers be able to reach with apps on this platform, and which marketers need to be watching it closely?

Fox News Latino says BlackBerry is going after the Latino audience with this device, though it remains to be seen whether it will be successful.

Altimeter’s Silva thinks agencies should keep their eye on the device and the audience it finds. “Since I think this will be a device with a very specific demographic,” he said, “nailing down that persona will be critical to, in turn, make decisions on what types of tools, apps and experiences to develop for it. If it truly emerges as a business tool for highly regulated industries, an electronic media records app will make more sense for it than a coupon application; agencies should be paying attention to this trend to guide their clients.”

How To Prepare

Though it seems to be a watch-and-wait situation for marketers, there are still some steps to take that make sense. Make sure your mobile website is up to standards, so early users of the BlackBerry have a good experience even without a dedicated app. Then, keep a good eye on website analytics to see what kind of demand may be developing from users of the device.

Secondly, it wouldn’t hurt to either identify some good independent developers who are getting familiar with the new BlackBerry platform, or have your in-house folks take a look at the company’s development tools.

Images provided by BlackBerry. 

The blocker was turned off after a week, and it only worked for a fraction of Free’s users — those who were using the latest version of the Freebox ISP hardware and software. But it highlighted the challenges that may face Google in France, where at least some prominent folks, like Free founder Xavier Niel, reportedly say Google is getting benefits from being in France, but isn’t paying enough taxes. Niel is a rich and well-known entrepreneur in France.

The ad blocker tactic seems to have backfired, however, in that the public and press largely saw it as a violation of net neutrality by Free, and an affront to publishers and advertisers that make money via Google ads.

The gesture came at a time when the French government is negotiating with Google and Amazon over how much of a contribution they should make to the Internet infrastructure in France, according to the Ad Age report.

The company’s in-house analyst, Hyunyoung Choi, who has previously worked at Facebook, Google and Hyundai, found that users were 240% more likely to return to an advertiser’s site after they were retargeted on Facebook. Additionally, the company’s study found that FBX drove 36% more conversions than retargeting anywhere else — where “anywhere else” is Google Display Network, AdMeld, Pubmatic or Rubicon.

Meanwhile, the research found that 96% more people converted upon view-through as compared to those who never saw an ad but organically re-visited the site and converted. So the ads, even if they’re not clicked upon, do seem to be having an impact.

Interestingly, the capabilities available via the exchange — such as setting up dynamic ads — were especially successful, Triggit found. Choi determined that dynamic creatives yielded higher click-through rates (43% higher) and lower cost per acquisition (1/3 lower) as compared to static ads. They also convert users more quickly. With dynamic creatives, 93% of conversions occurred within the first 50 impressions.

Choi came to her conclusions after looking at campaigns from seven different advertisers in the retail, travel and printing verticals. The campaigns reached 76 million users over the course of the six-week study in November and December 2012.

Triggit is one of many partners that Facebook is working with, including AdRoll, AppNexus, Brandscreen, Criteo, DataXu, MediaMath, Nanigans, Kenshoo, Optimal, RocketFuel, Tellapart, TheTradeDesk, Turn, Xaxis, and X+1. When the exchange was officially opened for business in September, many of these touted positive results achieved. during the beta period.

The researchers used Google’s transparency report related to copyright violation sites to identify pirate sites, then crawled them to determine what ad networks were serving ads on those sites.

 In looking at the top 10 networks, the researchers included DoubleClick in with its owner, Google, and Right Media with Yahoo.

The study’s authors suggest that online advertising networks self-police by blocking these domains from their ad serving, to avoid contributing to piracy.

“We do not believe that government regulation alone is the answer to the piracy problem, but rather that the self-regulation of major sectors like the online advertising industry could make it harder for the ‘Kim Dotcom’s’ of the world to unfairly exploit artists,” said Jonathan Taplin, director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. “We look forward to working with advertising agencies and networks in the coming months to address this issue.”

The report notes that another recent study found that advertising financed 86% of the peer-to-peer search sites that feature illegally distributed content.

The Annenberg Innovation Lab plans to release a similar top 10 list every month and is also working to determine the top brands whose ads appear on those piracy-associated sites.

UPDATE: A Google spokesperson has reached out with a statement on the study, disagreeing with its conclusions:

“We have not seen a copy of this report and don’t know the methodology, but to the extent it suggests that Google ads are a major source of funds for major pirate sites, we believe it is mistaken. Over the past several years, we’ve taken a leadership role in this fight, partnering with industry organizations to cut off the flow of money to piracy sites, as well as investing significant time and money to keep copyright-infringing content out of our network. The complexity of online advertising has led some to conclude, incorrectly, that the mere presence of any Google code on a site means financial support from Google.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, makes various claims related to Instagram’s planned changes to its terms of service, now set to go into effect in mid-January.

The complaint claims Instagram’s unilateral changing of the contract between itself and its users violates “the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” and constitutes unfair business practices. And, although Instagram has said it has no intentions of selling user’s photos or using them in advertisements, the suit alleges that the revised language of the terms wouldn’t actually prevent them from doing so.

The suit calls for some of Instagram’s planned changes to be prevented from taking effect, and asks that the terms be re-written to guarantee users their ownership and other rights.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, wouldn’t comment on any of the specific allegations but a spokesperson released a statement saying, “We believe this complaint is without merit and we will fight it vigorously.”

The controversy over Instagram’s planned changes in its terms of service erupted last week, after many who viewed them claimed that they would give the company too-broad control over user photos and other content.