E143 - WordPress vs Wix & the Fight Against Fake News (Matt Mullenweg, Automattic)

In today's episode, Joe talks to Matt Mullenweg, one of the founding developers of WordPress and the Founder and CEO of Automattic - a distribution company committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion with the goal to democratize publishing and commerce.

Matt talks about the systematic approach of Automattic, WordPress, and the rest of the Automattic web brands, as well as scaling and hiring skilled engineers, and the upside and downside of content distribution on different social platforms. 

Episode Resources:

• Check out Woocommerce and Jetpack 
• Matt's Website
• Matt is also on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and WordPress.org 
• Leave an Apple podcast review or binge-watch past episodes
• Send questions to [email protected] for the next Q&A pod
• Visit the WPMRR website

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:51 Welcome to the pod, Matt!
• 03:09 How does Automattic work?  
• 04:08 Get to know QuickForget - a tool designed to assist in sending sensitive information through email
• 07:17 WordPress VIP on upscaling and continuous business growth
• 09:32 Is there a cross collaboration between WordPress and Automattic?
• 11:48 Finding good engineers is still challenging
• 15:14 Four immutable aspects we can look for in new hires
• 17:30 What separates Automattic from WordPress
• 18:47 WordPress and Automattic remain a platform that enables
• 20:55 Should platforms take responsibility for all content published on their site?
• 26:04 Preventing negativity and the spread of misinformation and fake news
• 33:13 Trustworthy and reliable institutions are necessary in our society
• 34:50 The conflict between Wix and WordPress