Create Your Own Twitter

The guys at Automattic have set up a Wordpress theme that functions just like our favorite microblogging site, Twitter.com and I’ve set up my own little test site at twitter.crrrg.com

The guys at Automattic have set up a Wordpress theme that functions just like our favorite microblogging site, Twitter.com and I’ve set up my own little test site at twitter.crrrg.com

It’s called Prologue.

Not only that, but they’ve also made the theme available for Wordpress.com blogs, making it super easy to set up a group blog for small updates and communication.

There’s a lot that can be done with this little project and I plan on having an interesting implementation up and running next week. There’s only a few things that you’ll be missing that you may be used to in Twitter.

  • No following - there is no system set up to follow other users. This is why the theme is most suited for small groups if you want to use it as a communication tool.
  • No mobile notifications - although it would be possible to set up mobile, IM and email notifications of updates through 3rd party services, using RSS, there is no in built functionality.
  • Wordpress registration - you’ll notice when signing up that it still uses the same Wordpress registration process for new users. This means an email is sent out with an automated password and the only way to change it is to go into the Wordpress admin. This opens up your backend and makes it clear this is just a Wordpress blog, and not a Twitter-clone.
  • Permalinks - it will still use the same Wordpress permalink structures - like .com/author/name - instead of URLs similar to Twitter. I’ve discussed an easy solution to fix this.
  • Gravatars - the theme uses Gravatar.com to power the avatars, which is great if everyone uses Gravatars, such as everyone on Wordpress.com blogs. This should be an easy fix, one I’ve used to power author profile pages at Electrorash.com

    • Outside of a few aesthetic differences that could easily be altered, this is a very neat theme. Automattic have made it dead simple to start an open and fun group blog. If small businesses are looking for an in-house solution that should mimic Twitter, this works well to do so.

    The Wordpress tagging system makes it easy to set up discussions - something that Twitter is yet to get going - and as a whole, the theme can make a closed discussion possible whilst opening up new and custom features that you won’t get at Twitter.

    Also, it’s a great alternative to Twitter’s frequent outtages.

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    This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 2:42 am and is filed under Long. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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