Post Status

Some of you have noticed and asked me why I haven’t been posting on socials as much. And if I’m okay. Yes, I’m better than okay. But I wasn’t for awhile. Just like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, I felt myself disappearing. Only I didn’t really pay attention to it. You see, last year was a year of some incredible highs, and also some pretty deep lows. If I’m reflecting correctly, though, it went further back than just a year. Burnout (at least for me) was a very slow burn.

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Amadeu Arderiu released an open Playground for the Gutenberg AI Agent, allowing users to generate pages with prompts that create content, images, and layouts using Openverse assets. Casey Burridge explained how to track AI referral traffic in GA4 and visualize it in Looker Studio dashboards. Bob Dunn shared an article tracing how decentralized social platforms evolved from Identi.ca to Mastodon and another on bootstrapping a WordPress business through customer feedback.

Imagine telling your AI assistant, ā€œFind me the perfect gift for a coffee snob,ā€ and within seconds it recommends a few optionsā€”complete with ā€œBuyā€ buttons right there in the conversation. That kind of seamless shopping is already in motion. This shift is happening through ChatGPTā€™s Agentic Commerce Protocol. For agencies building ecommerce sites, the rules of discovery, conversion, and control are about to change (again).

Satyam Vishwakarma launched Contributor Photo Gallery, a free, open-source plugin to showcase WordPress.org photo contributions, and later shared a follow-up post highlighting its community impact. Miriam Schwab announced her upcoming session at Prepathon 2025 on how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are shaping ecommerce. Casey Burridge shared a framework for creating content strategies tailored for WordPress companies balancing educational and promotional goals.

The headlines are everywhere: large agencies and tech companies are cutting staff, citing budget pressures and new AI efficiencies. Last week, Fueled confirmed a 4–5% reduction in its workforce, with CEO Justin Livesay noting that “early AI influences” allowed some projects to be completed in much less time. The economics of web development are shifting fast.

Adam Silver released a new KitchenSinkWP episode featuring a chat with Miriam Schwab. Jeff Chandler promoted his Fresh Perspective service to help product owners identify issues before Black Friday. Bob Dunn highlighted a podcast on WordPress textcasting and open web standards and another on how a global cake brand used WooCommerce and open-source communities.

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Chris Reynolds released a new Community + Code episode featuring Brendan O’Leary of Kilo Code discussing developer-first principles in the age of AI coding tools. He also announced Pantheon’s Content Publisher preview and posted a Wapuu-at-BADCamp video. Jos Velasco encouraged giving back to the WordPress community with a post on returning value to the tools you use. Joey Kudish relaunched his personal website and newsletter, highlighting services and insights on AI coding and product building.

The ongoing legal battle between WP Engine and Automattic took a turn last week when a federal judge issued a mixed ruling on Automattic’s motion to dismiss. Though the gavel fell in Automattic’s favor on some counts, the case continues with serious claims still on the table. On his blog, Matt Mullenweg declared victory after the court threw out some of WP Engine’s most serious allegations, including antitrust, monopolization, and extortion.