The 4-year-old blogging platform officially announced the acquisition Monday afternoon on its company blog, noting that “the opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe.”
Twitter’s company blog echoed the same sentiments.
“We’re always looking for talented people who have the passion and personality to join Twitter,” reads a blog post about the deal. “Acquisitions have given us people and technology that have enabled us to more quickly build a better Twitter for you.”
Posterous as a platform particularly lends itself to mobile blogging. While posts can be added using the website’s rich text editor, posts –including those containing pictures, video, or documents– can also be added via email.The acquisition brings Posterous’ engineers, product managers and other employees into the flock with plans for them to work “on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better.”
Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption, and the company promises to “give users ample notice” if any changes are on the horizon.
If you purchased a domain from Posterous, you’ll receive an email from its domain partner eNom in the next several days with instructions on how to access your account. If you’re redirecting your domain or subdomain to Posterous, the service will continue to point to your Posterous Space, with no need for you to make any changes.
For those who want to backup content from Posterous or move your content to another service, the company will be providing instructions on how to do so in the coming weeks.
Why do you think Twitter bought Posterous? Tell us in the comments below.
Did 2011 mark the high point of oversharing? That seems to be the lesson behind a couple of studies that examined the New Year’s resolutions of social media users.
Most of us, it seems, did make social media resolutions of some sort. In a Harris Interactive survey of 2,000 Americans who use services such as Facebook and Twitter, 63% of respondents said they had made promises to themselves regarding their use of such services in 2012. The survey was commissioned by social network Posterous.
Surprisingly few of those resolutions had anything to do with spending less time on those services. Only a quarter of respondents with a social media resolution checked the box marked “take a break from social media and spend more time interacting with people in real life.” Rather, most users wanted to better control how much they share, and with whom.
The top two promises, chosen by 44% and 42% of resolution-makers respectively, were “share only with close friends and family” and “be more careful about what I share.”
The desire for less sharing was evident on the incoming side, too. The third most popular resolution, shared by 37% of respondents: “Only read status updates from people who are close friends and family.”
Sharing less on social media may not be the most popular New Year’s resolution overall — it’s hard to beat mainstays like “lose weight” or “save more money.” But a separate study, an analysis of more than 152,000 tweets about New Years’ resolutions by Crimson Hexagon, suggests that the social media diet resolution has reached the top tier.
Leaving aside the 20% of tweets that simply said New Year’s resolutions were “lame,” the resolution to “share less on social media” was the third most popular — beating “be kinder to others.”
It’s easy to surmise that we all shared too much last year — that one too many drunken photo got posted, or that an ill-considered joke on your Facebook wall led to a dicey conversation with the boss. But perhaps there’s another lesson to be drawn here: that we’re hungry for a more meaningful, more intimate form of social media.
Most users know the feeling: that Twitter’s connections are too impersonal, that the majority of our Facebook friends are one-time acquaintances we’d rather not spill everything to. On the surface, that’s good news for services like Posterous and Path, which make a virtue of their limited social circles. (It’s also a boon for Google+, which touts its ability to divide your friends into various circles of sharing — though critics complain the Circles feature is still too complex for the average user.)
On the other hand, the resolution to share less — or to only share with family and close friends — doesn’t necessarily suggest we’re ready to give up on the twin behemoths of Twitter and Facebook just yet. After all, “switch my social network” was not a resolution that ranked in the Harris survey. Most of our world is on these big two services, and we recognize that. We would just like to be more careful about what we post there, and to whom.
Did you make a social media resolution for 2012? Let us know what it was in the comments.
Posterous is a free blogging platform for people who want a simplified yet flexible way to create and maintain a blog. One of the key selling points for Posterous is that it allows you to send new posts to your Posterous blog via email, so you can easily update your site from any web-enabled mobile device. You can also connect Posterous with other sites like Facebook and Twitter, so that you can simultaneously send posts to all your social channels.
Posterous also aims to take “all the hard work” out of blogging by automatically formatting your post for optimal web viewing. If you send a photo, the site will resize and post it. Send a video, Posterous converts it for viewing on the web. Send a document, it gets embedded.
Here’s a step-by-step process for getting started.
1. Open an Account
There are two ways to get your Posterous blog up and running. The first way is to send an email to post@posterous.com that includes the title of your first blog post in the subject line and the content of the post in the body of the email. Within a few minutes, your first post will be live — it’s that simple. Once you receive a confirmation email from Posterous, you can click through to set up a username and password for your account and further customize the blog. Alternatively, you can go directly to posterous.com and create a username and password right from the home page.
Once you’ve got your username and password sorted, you can then proceed to the “Manage” screen, which will allow you to edit your profile, attach additional email addresses to your Posterous account, subscribe to other Posterous blogs, link your Posterous account to other online accounts, and create new posts without going through email.
2. Customize Your Blog
You can easily adjust your blog’s look and feel by changing the theme you’re using. Simply select “Edit theme” from the Settings section of the Manage page. Posterous currently has more than 40 free, built-in themes that you can use for your Posterous blog. Web developers can also adapt any of these themes with full HTML/CSS customization — you can also customize the color, the header and many other elements of your blog.
If you want to customize your domain, Posterous will take care of the domain name purchase for you, or you can point your Posterous blog to your existing custom domain.
3. Create and Post New Content
You can send a new blog post to Posterous at any time by sending an email to post@posterous.com. Create your new posts exactly as you did for your initial email — the email’s subject line will become your post title and any text or multimedia in the body of the email will appear in the Posterous post.
Here’s a quick video tutorial on how it works:
You can also easily post content to your blog by using the Posterous Bookmarklet. By dragging the “Share on Posterous” button to your bookmark bar, you will be able to select text, video, music or photos from any web page and post it instantly to your Posterous blog. To share text, simply highlight the content you want to share, then click on the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar. A pop-up window will show the post, which you can then edit and finalize for posting. To share videos or photos, click the Bookmarklet in your bookmark bar, and a window will pop up that includes all the photos and videos on the page — select which of these you’d like to share, then edit and finalize your post.
4. Link other accounts to Posterous
By linking your other online accounts to Posterous, you can share your posts on several sites without having to go to these sites directly. To do this, go to the “Manage” screen and click on “Autopost to Everywhere.” Then follow the instructions for updating your account information for each of the web sites you want to post to.
Once you’ve completed this step, you’ll be able to post to these sites via email:
To post only to your Posterous blog, send an email to posterous@posterous.com
To post to all your linked sites, send an email to post@posterous.com
To post just to one linked site, send an email to the sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook@posterous.com will get your post up on Facebook as well as your Posterous blog)
To post to several linked sites at a time, send an email to sitename+sitename@posterous.com (e.g. facebook+twitter@posterous.com)
You can use the following service names to email to: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, blog, Blogger, Tumblr, YouTube, Vimeo, FriendFeed, Delicious, Laconica, Identica, LiveJournal, Plurk and Shopify.
5. Go Mobile
Posterous also offers apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. These apps make it even easier to post photos and video on the go.
For example, the iPhone app lets you email a photo from within the Camera or Photos apps, and you can also email multiple photos to Posterous at once to create an image gallery. From within the Photo Library, click the “Share” icon in the lower left corner of the iPhone screen. Then select up to five photos. A checkmark will appear on photos you have selected. Then click “Share” in the lower left corner to email them to Posterous.
If you have an iPhone 3GS or later, you can also post video directly from the phone to Posterous. When viewing a video, just click “Share,” then email it to post@posterous.com. The video will get converted for the web and published to your site instantly.
Of course, since you can post to Posterous via email, you don’t really need to install an app to get going. Just send an email to post@posterous.com from your mobile device and attach photos, audio and video.
Series Supported by Global Strategic Management Institute
Posterous has introduced a sweet new feature — photo slideshows — for sites, posts and groups; this feature really brings photos to life.
Posterous site visitors and group members can now click on the slideshow button atop a site or within individual posts to view images in a stylish slideshow.
The fullscreen lightbox UI elegantly and automatically cycles through all photos posted to a site or shared within a single post. You can pause the slideshow, fast forward or rewind and toggle between a whole site and an individual post.
The addition of slideshows is a simple update, but one that dramatically impacts how users will experience photos shared via Posterous.
Give it a spin and let us know what you think of the new addition in the comments.
Posterous has introduced a sweet new feature — photo slideshows — for sites, posts and groups; this feature really brings photos to life.
Posterous site visitors and group members can now click on the slideshow button atop a site or within individual posts to view images in a stylish slideshow.
The fullscreen lightbox UI elegantly and automatically cycles through all photos posted to a site or shared within a single post. You can pause the slideshow, fast forward or rewind and toggle between a whole site and an individual post.
The addition of slideshows is a simple update, but one that dramatically impacts how users will experience photos shared via Posterous.
Give it a spin and let us know what you think of the new addition in the comments.
The official Tweet Button has arrived; and while it's as simple as a single click to use for the vast majority of end users, it brings scores of questions for casual and professional bloggers and other publishers.How can I put a tweet button on my WordPressWordPress.com blog posts? How can I check the stats for my tweet button links? How do these buttons work with Bloggerblogger?Here are a few quick pointers for how to use the official Tweet Buttons for fun and profit. If you have questions about how to integrate the buttons with a specific platform, be sure to let us know in the comments; the MashableMashable staff and community would love to help you out!
The Basic Code
First of all, Tweet Buttons work with a little bit of HTML and a little bit of JavaScript. If you go to Twitter'sTwitterpage on the buttons, you'll get an auto-generated snippet of code to pop into your site's HTML wherever you'd like the button to appear. Alternatively, you can use an iFrame, remembering to use query string parameters to customize the button’s behavior. You can choose one of three design styles, as well.If you're relatively code-savvy and you feel like getting fancy, you can also build your own dang Tweet Button using this link (that's twitter.com/share) and customizing the styling and behavior of the button itself any way you choose. Alternatively, if you're not terribly code savvy or you're using a platform that won't let you edit too much of the code yourself, you can always use the same URL to create a text link that mimics the behavior of a Tweet Button:
Integrating With Your CMS
The cut-and-paste JavaScript method should work just fine for many mini-blog platforms. On Tumblr, just navigate to the customization interface, select the Theme tag, and edit the HTML, inserting Twitter's code in any block where you want the Tweet Button to appear.If you use PosterousPosterous, head to the Look and Feel section of your dashboard, click the Edit Theme button, then click the Advanced tab. From there, you should be able to click the link that reads "Enable advanced theming." This will open up a different interface that will allow you to edit the code for your blog; again, just past the Tweet Button code anywhere you'd like the button to appear.However, if you run a blog on WordPress.com, you probably already know that JavaScript doesn't play very nicely with your content management system, and you might not be interested in building your own button from scratch. We're happy to report that there's a simple, built-in way to add Tweet Buttons to all your posts automatically. Simply open your Appearances menu, click Extras, and select the option that reads "Show a Twitter Tweet Button on my posts." Many thanks to The Next Web for passing on this handy tip!If your blog is on the Blogger platform, there's a different little trick for you to try. Once you login to your Blogger Dashboard, you'll need to navigate to the Design section, then select the option Edit HTML. Then, check the box reading "Expand Widget Templates." Once you're there, you'll be able to paste in a code snippet, which will put a Tweet Button on all your blog posts. To grab the code and get details on how to edit some of the button's parameters, head over to Blogger Plugins.
Extras: Browser Plugin and Stats
And if you'd like to have a Tweet Button with you at all times as you browse the web for great content from your fellow bloggers, here's a handy Chrome extension that just might become a favorite. It functions just like Twitter's official Tweet Button, being built on the same code, and it shows you the tweet count for each page as you navigate around the InternetInternet.Sadly, for the time being, there's no real way to check the stats on tweets for your posts -- not yet, anyhow. At ChirpChirp Blu, Twitter's developer conference earlier this year, execs hinted that some interesting analytics packages were in the works. We're speculating that taking control of retweets is a first step toward competing with companies like Bit.ly in offering stats and metrics on Twitter sharing of posts and pages. Perhaps there will be a free or inexpensive stats package for casual bloggers, small businesses and others who want more than just a tweet count, too.
Any Other Tips?
What have your experiences with the Tweet Button been so far as a content publisher? Have you run into -- or better yet, have you worked around -- any bugs with various CMSes? Let us know any tips or tricks you have in the comments, and if you have any lingering questions, be sure to post them here, as well.
Posterous has been around since 2006, but the super-simple blogging platform is still relatively unknown when compared to blog giants like WordPress and Tumblr. If that sentence didn't mean anything to you then, ironically, Posterous was designed for you.The platform takes all the functionality and impressive visuals from (sometimes complicated) services like WordPressWordPress and distills the tech side of things to let you focus on sharing content. PosterousPosterous allows you to write blogs from your own e-mail and auto-formats your media to fit.While it can all be hands-off, there are a number of ways to personalize the way your Posterous blog looks. For the would-be-designer, Posterous has put up some great tips and short-cuts for modifying their code. For the more casual users (read: most of us), there are some great, pre-made themes to update the look of your blog. We've collected seven elegant, functional themes that you can apply from the get go.
This is a great theme for photographers, as each post is prominently displayed like an online portfolio. Word to the wise: Make sure you have enough posts and high quality images to fill up your front page, otherwise this theme will just leave them blank.
One of the originals from designer Cory Watilo, this theme will automatically create new pages based on your post tags. Good for simple use and those not trying to blow out their SEO with a thousand tags per post.
Connoting the cool clean calm of Don Draper, this theme aims for a polished, magazine vibe. The high contrast helps both your pictures and blog posts stand out.
Contra is a theme best used by web video folks. Because the layout focuses on one post at a time, it's a good way to showcase a current project or inspiration.
Tabby 2 is the older brother to Tabby. Don't let its sparsity fool you. This theme is fully customizable from background down to font - perfect for the DIY crowd and nitpicks.
Posterous is in the midst of an aggressive 15-day campaign to get users of other services such as Tumblr and Ning to switch to its blogging platform. Today the startup has set its sights on TwitPic with the introduction of a two-click TwitPic importer.The TwitPic Switch to Posterous page instructs users to "rescue your photos from a TwitPic." It's a bold statement that attempts to position the service as a superior resting place for user photos.The Posterous TwitPic importer is just as simple to use as each of the other import options. In this case, simply enter the URL of your TwitPic profile, complete the Twitter OAuth process and PosterousPosterous will begin the import process. TwitPic photos will be left intact, but copied over to Posterous. You'll receive a notification e-mail when the import process is complete.As we've previously noted, Posterous can be used in much the same way that Twitterers already use TwitPicTwitpic, especially given that many TwitterTwitter mobile clients already include Posterous as a photo-sharing option. With the introduction of the Posterous TwitPic importer, the company hopes to convince holdouts to make the switch to a blogging platform that also moonlights as a Twitter photo-sharing service.Posterous's switch campaign is a brilliant way to drive home the utility of the service, even if it does attract the ire of competing services. So far, it has already gone after VoxVox, XangaXanga, Active Rain, Ning, TumblrTumblr and now TwitPic users.These are some pretty high-profile targets, and already Posterous is pretty pleased with the results. Vice President of Marketing Rich Pearson tells us that "activity is through the roof," and that the campaign has been "very successful for both folks who are moving their content over to Posterous, and folks who already have an account but haven't been back to Posterous in some time."Update: TwitPic has blocked the Posterous import tool, we've reached out to them for comment.
Until today, the Achilles heel of Posterous’s super simple blogging service has been its less-than-stellar online post editor. Today, however, the startup is ready to unveil its completely overhauled Post Editor 2.0.
Post Editor 2.0 is designed for supremely easy content management. You can now upload and arrange any combination of photos, music, videos and documents in your posts via copy/paste or drag-and-drop. The interface is intelligent, the experience is smooth and the blogging platform is now incredibly flexible.
The new post editor is available now to all PosterousPosterous users, and you can try it out for yourself with the “Post by web” option in your dashboard. You’ll notice that the redesigned editor now includes a dedicated media section on the right where you can batch upload any and all media for your post. If you upload multiple images, they can be grouped in galleries, reordered via drag-and-drop, rotated, deleted and interspersed with text as you choose.
What’s interesting is that Posterous — which we like to call the e-mail-to-blog-to-anywhere platform — has strayed from its original e-mail-centric focus with this update. The service now offers a sophisticated web editor for more advanced blogging needs, and could be seen as competitive to most other blogging platforms. The best part is that the new features don’t sacrifice the service’s trademark simplicity, which means it’s still 100% mom-friendly.
If you love Posterous but want to use it with a customized domain name (like say, ChristinaWarren.com), it just got really, really simple. Posterous has just rolled out the ability to register your own domain name for your Posterous blog and get it set up correctly in one step.
PosterousPosterous has offered support for custom domains for some time now, but it still required the user registering a domain with a registrar and then altering their A records with the registrar to point to Posterous.
Like WordPress.com, Posterous users can now avoid that step. You can check the availability of your desired domain name and if it’s not taken, register it and have it automatically mapped to your account in one step.
Furthermore, you can set up Google Apps for your domain (so you can have email, calendars and access to all of the Google Apps Marketplace stuff) really quickly. This is pretty useful, because while some registrars will let you set up Google Apps alongside your domain, this will take care of that extra step of also hooking it up to Posterous.
Posterous says that for the first month, the price of domain registration through them will be discounted. Currently, you can register a domain for $24.99 for one year or $19.99 per year if you register for two years. The normal registration prices weren’t revealed. You can only register .com, .net or .org domains through Posterous.
Although it’s easy to get a domain name for under $10 a year, the fact that you can get automatic mapping to Posterous and easy set-up with Google Apps definitely makes this a good value for users who aren’t interested in dealing with domain registrars.
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