That word in quotes, “official”, it just hasn’t appeared between WordPress and Twitter even after 9 years of the latter’s existence. Well, that’s changed today with Twitter’s announcement of an official WordPress plugin.
Twitter today “finally” announced that it is releasing an “official” Twitter plugin for WordPress. Unfamiliar with WordPress ? What you’re reading right now, and the over 1500 articles which you have gone through till date on The Tech Portal are all a result of a WordPress back-end. That should be enough to help you understand what WordPress is.
But then, the obvious question. Isn’t it too late ? Most WordPress users have accustomed themselves to third-party Twitter plugins which despite Twitter’s official release today, may continue to provide a better functionality. Moreover, Twitter’s official plugin lacks teeth to be “the Twitter Plugin” for WordPress. Nevertheless, here’s a run-down at what Twitter’s plugin can offer :
- Embedded Tweet – customize backgrounds and color schemes to match your site’s theme
- Embedded Twitter video – showcase video uploaded to Twitter
- Tweet button – simple sharing of your site’s content on Twitter
- Twitter Cards – highlight your site’s content when shared on Twitter
- Twitter Analytics – track impressions and top distributors of your site’s content on Twitter
- Follow button – grow your Twitter audience
- Twitter ads conversion tracking – easily track actions on your WordPress site triggered by a Twitter ad or build a custom targeting audience
What it cannot ? Well, the biggest drawback it brings along, is that you cannot embed Twitter feeds into your WordPress layout. It’ll do individual tweets, but there’s no mention of feed embedding.
Anyway, the plugin is a welcome addition to the list of offcial plugins being provided by tech giants to help make the WordPress ecosystem better. Moreover, an official plugin is way better that scouting for third-party plugin out of that haystack and which continues to remain supported in future.
IMAGE : FLICKR / CC 2.0/ mkhmarketing
