An open letter to Posterous CEO @a4agarwal

Mr. Sachin Agarwal
Chief Executive Officer
Posterous.com

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my tweet from earlier today:

Thinking I'm done with Tumblr and torn between keeping Posterous or moving back to WordPress for my own blog.

It's good to know that customer service is alive and well with your fine establishment, even if it is a virtual one.

To quickly address Tumblr, I respect their service and may even reinvent my tumblog in some way. Being they were around before Posterous, I always favor first-to-market. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean best-of-market. For all the wonderful benefits Tumblr offers, I believe Posterous reigns supreme in the world of "simple" blogging platforms.

...which brings me to my blog which is currently hosted on your fine service. Why would I want to move back to WordPress as I had indicated on Twitter? Well for starters, I'd never completely abandon Posterous. Three reasons will keep me loyal:

Ease of use. A monkey could use Posterous, and I mean that in a good way.
Emphasis on content. Effortless posting equals more time creating content and less time publishing. The bookmarklet is a real bonus.
Shannon Elizabeth. Okay, not really. But that's a bonus, too.

That said, I am a perfectionist at heart. You see, I am a long-time web designer and developer. I author more copy these days than code, but I like my blogs deft and convertible. True, I can tweak my Posterous and I was happy when theming was announced (though I myself am yet to take advantage of it). Uploading image galleries is a snap and Posterous does not currently charge for video streaming or domain name pointing as does WordPress. And if you follow the last few months of WordPress' official blog, you may notice they are emulating aspects of Posterous. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Alas, I use WordPress for other projects and I must admit, there is so much to love, more than my otherwise fond relationship with Posterous can fulfill at present. The widgets, the themes, the customization, the community support. I have been a long-time advocate of WordPress and, while at times it can be more complicated than its worth, sometimes I want that complexity. As I said, I am a perfectionist.

And some things that should be simple. Description meta tags, for example, don't come with Posterous as they do with WordPress and other platforms. I understand that you are trying to keep things simple and can't accommodate every single request that comes through the forums, but that seems like an easy fix. Draft or preview modes, too. When can we see those?

My desire to broaden my blogging horizons also factors into my decision. I am thinking about blogging the high and mighty thought pieces on WordPress while using Posterous as a corkboard for all my one-liners, mobile imagery and other "stickies." Maybe juggling more than one blogging platform isn't worthwhile, but given all the social media profiles I maintain, what's one more?

So, Posterous hasn't seen the last of me. You've done a fine job, Mr. Agarwal, and replying to my tweet as you appear to do in earnest with other users was reassuring. I believe this dual comparison will do me good in the long run, and while you surely benchmark your service against the competition, I would be glad to offer up one more man's perspective.

Respectfully,

Dino Baskovic

Tags » blogging customer service posterous social media tumblr twitter wordpress

8 April 2010
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Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

An open letter to Posterous CEO @a4agarwal

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