Posterous has been around since 2008 and was purchased by Twitter last year. According to their blog, Posterous will shut down by the end of April and Posterous Spaces will no longer be viewable. If you have a Posterous Blog it’s not too late to export and backup your data before it disappears forever.
I’ve never used Posterous but it’s (or was) similar to Tumblr; a super easy, and free, blogging solution. Posterous was especially great for mobile blogging, allowing users to post via email and the recently released phone app. This move will impact a large number of bloggers. Jennifer 8. Lee tweeted that all of the linked images on her blog are sitting on Posterousâ servers. Not Good. There are businesses on Posterous, with expensive stationary, banners, advertising, etc.. What about the networks of people that have interacted with one another over the years, developing online friendships?
There is a lesson with every major takeover, buyout and shut down; whether weâre talking about blogging, social media or third party services.
The Takeaway
I love sites like Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook and a ton of others but I feel that serious bloggers should post to their own domain, preferably with WordPress. It’s not free (Having your own domain, WordPress IS free) but it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Itâs better to use these free services as a supplemental resource for your blog, not for its existence. That’s just my two cents and I’m not alone…
Posterous is closing. This is why you always post stuff in your own domain, not someone’s sub-domain. Tumblrs take note bit.ly/UoMWnj
Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) February 15, 2013
Remember when all the “pundits” where saying Posterous was the future of blogging? Ridiculous.
Brian Clark (@copyblogger) February 16, 2013
Does Blogging Need To Be Free?
Do You REALLY Need A FREE Blogging Option? I understand that blogging comes in many flavors and not everyone breaths, eats and sleeps blogging like I do. There are many levels to blogging; some people just want to post daily thoughts and updates, others want to post photos from their smart phones. So, I know a paid option is not in the cards for everyone but if you are a business, going to profit from your blog, or a serious blogger, I think you should consider getting your own WordPress blog on your own domain.
Posthaven will be an inexpensive option at just $5/month. I still recommend WordPress and your own domain, however, Garry Tan seems sincere enough and Posthaven may be a nice alliterative for those just looking for a safe place for a personal blog without the upkeep of a self-hosted blog. Garry Tan, one of the original co-founders of Posterous, is working furiously on the new site that he pledges to never sell out or shut down. That’s quite a promise.
I’m pledging to keep your URLs online forever with our sustainable Posterous replacement posthaven.com
Garry Tan (@garrytan) February 15, 2013
Posthaven – easy, simple blogs for $5/mo forever posthaven.com Posterous is gone, but Posthaven is here.
Garry Tan (@garrytan) February 16, 2013
Update 07 Sep 2014: A year and a half later and Posthaven seems to still be going strong and still just $5/month. Congratulations Gary.
Your Call To Action
Every post needs a call to action so tell me if you use a free blogging platform, what you use it for, why do you use it and are you worried? Simple enough, right? What are your thoughts on the shut down?
NOTE: The image used in this post is a screenshot of the video, Posterous Office Tour | TC Cribs. In the image is Vincent Chu – Director of Engineering, Posterous CEO & Co-Founder – Sachin Agarwal and Jason Kincaid, formerly of TechCrunch (Who I dubbed Clark Kent).
About Brian D. Hawkins
Is there somewhere we can get directions on how to back up our Posterous blogs elsewhere? Thank uou.
Yep, there sure are Nancsue. There are steps here and here on backing up your content.
I am totally satisfied with the WordPress instead of creating a blog on blogspot or any other.. WordPress is SEO friendly, easy to manage and comes with lots of features.. I know its paid. But, its worth spending money on WordPress tools, your own domain and hosting charges..
Thanks for the post 🙂
I’ve been spending a lot on this blog lately Dhruv but you can get by for as little as, what, $4.95/month or something like that?
I pay $219/month just on a dedicated server. Just this month I’ve bought several plugins, a new theme w/ the Genesis Framework, a video editing tool and I’m waiting on a $100 logo. Wow, I better slow down, I didn’t even realize I spent that much until I typed it in there. lol
Hi Brian,
Glad I saw this post because I didn’t know that Posterous was shutting down.
I had a bad feeling about the site when they were purchased by Twitter – that sent a signal to me that the owners knew it was time to get out before it was too late. Smart move on their part.
I abandoned the blog I had over there a long time ago but I only used it as a content curation tool anyway.
Thanks for the heads up!
No problem Ileane, I felt it was bad news when Twitter bought them too. I got the same feeling with Instagram when Facebook bought them but so far that one seems to be staying with us. I hope so because I really like that site and plan to use it even more. We knew know what’s going on behind the closed doors of these large conference rooms.
In a word: WHEW! Thanks so much fir the guidance. I feel I wasted years in Posterous.
I really hate when I see a toucho (formerly known as typos) in something I’ve just shared with the world. 🙁
I have never used Posterous or Tumblr. I understand why someone would want a free option to blog for fun about there personal life, but I cannot imagine a business using a free service like Posterous to host there business blog. You have to invest a lot of time and effort, only to have it taken down. How awful that must be.
I agree Larry, or to supplement or curate blogs. I have a Tumbr blog that I use to post (not host) my own images.
Hi Brian,
Whoa! Free blogging platform is dangerous, everybody should definitely get their our blogging hosting with only like 3 or 4 bucks a month. Once you spent a certain of time of your free blogging platform and it’s really disappoint when they’re down.
Thanks for this Great Sharing – Ferb
Hi Brian,
I heard about this and thought – what a pain for anyone who’s been using Posterous. I’ve seen a lot of free blogging platforms closing in the past – anyone remember Today.com? Posterous closing reinforces the importance of having your own domain name.
Posthaven sounds like a nice idea, but I think it’s really rather silly to promise anything will run “forever”. It’s good to be ambitious, but the creators don’t know if their circumstances will change in 5 or 10 years time. I’d never promise to keep a blog or project online indefinitely – sometimes they run their course and it’s better that they can close if need be.
Even the fairly small monthly cost of shared hosting does add up and may be out of reach for some. Blogger or WordPress.com seem like good options for bloggers who don’t want to self-host.
PS. A bit of feedback for you. It looks like you have two ways to subscribe to comments. You could probably turn one of those off 🙂
Boy– sure makes me think twice about my wordpress.com blog– but gosh I hate to give up the page rank and start over with a hosted blog.
Ha Posterous is down and out!
I remember that site from since I started blogging and was looking to build some links from there lol. “The old days when I didn’t now much”
People, don’t suffer the fate of many that have lost their blogs such as this!