My non academic, simple definition of a CMS is pretty simple – it’s a system designed for managing content in a simple manner by the end user, without having to delve into code.

WordPress fits that definition perfectly. Was it originally designed as this – no. Has it grown and adapted to suit user requirements – absolutely. Not everyone uses WordPress as a blog, it can be many things. You can build a whole site based on pages, and in fact that’s what all the templates over at http://www.studiopress.com are based on, and they definitely take WordPress in some interesting directions.

WordPress can manage text pages, manage images via gallaries etc, include other media/forms of content such as video etc. Content can be stored within the system and then put together and published as required. This can be done without coding if required.

So, in my very humble opinion, is it a CMS – definitely – it can be used effectively to publish and manage content and has features built in for this purpose. Is it the most advanced tool for this task – absolutely not. But do many small businesses who only have small amounts of content to manage in simple ways need something more advanced? I would suggest in a lot of cases they don’t.

Thanks for the article, it was a great read.
Matt

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

My observation is of a general trend of a multi-channel/touch point relevance engine between the CMS and the content consumer that I have called the Engagement Tier. I don’t necessarily agree with your ‘only way’ observation, as I think this could be at least partially delivered by a software solution where you can draw a clear line between the consumer and the back-end CMS and I only say ‘partially’ in this context as you can throw e-mail, call centres and print marketing into that mix that require specialist tools.

Our expectation on the web experience part of this engagement is super dynamic, I think there are plenty of ways of delivering that and it’s my pleasure to be seeing a number of those right now.

Anyway – in the old days we used to talk about baking/frying with these models – today’s content consumer wants it fresh caught that day, prepared their way and hot off the griddle, teppanyaki style.

Really appreciate you reading Vern and your contribution.

Cheers!

Ian

The W in WCM (rather than CMS or ECM) means the system is about marketers optimizing online customer engagements. Decoupling simply allows marketers to think about those customer interactions independent from any one Site or channel.

In fact, I believe decoupling is the only way to really embrace the Social Web – the two way conversation. Decoupling separates content “sources” from “targets” so that edits can be made and flow through regardless of where the point of interaction occurred (you site, their site, some other social media channel).

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

This comment was originally posted on Twitter