Six Apart Launches Facebook Blogging Application

April 16, 2008

Six Apart has launched a free Facebook application, Blog It powered by TypePad, that allows people to post to their blog or micro-blog from within Facebook. Blog It brings some of the best social aspects of Facebook to blogging, making it easy for bloggers to let their friends and colleagues around the web know what they’re posting. Unlike existing blogging tools within Facebook, Blog It is not limited to any one company's blogging services, but instead works with nearly a dozen services including Blogger, TypePad, Twitter, Movable Type, Vox, and WordPress.

“By bridging the gap between blogging and social networking, Six Apart brings social tools to bloggers all over the web no matter the publishing platform they use,” said David Recordon, Open Platforms Tech Lead at Six Apart. “Blog It is a power tool for bloggers who want to spread the word to their friends and colleagues about the content they're creating.”

In addition to the ability to easily post to multiple blogging services from within Facebook, Blog It offers the ability to notify friends and colleagues around the web about new posts. When writing a post, the blogger can choose to automatically share it via Twitter and Pownce in addition to the Facebook Newsfeed. While many Facebook applications rely solely on the Newsfeed to share activity, Blog It is unique in that it helps bloggers share what they're creating with people they know across the web.

"Twitter makes it easy for anybody to tell their friends or the world what they're up to," said Evan Williams, Twitter founder. "Blog It works perfectly with that goal, making it super simple to connect Facebook, Twitter and any blogging platform to keep everyone in touch."

Blog It is part of a new wave of decentralized web applications that are attempting to break down the barriers between sites in order to give users more power and choice about how and where their content is created.

"Blog It is one of the few applications that takes content created inside Facebook and makes it available for use outside Facebook," said Recordon. "Blog It users are able to update their personal blogs, business blogs, online journals, Facebook status, or Twitter or Pownce activity all from one central environment. This is a concrete step away from the silos and walled gardens of the past and toward the open web of the future."

To get started, users simply add the Blog It application on Facebook and take a minute to setup their account details - just like any other blogging client. From there they can create new posts, add them to their blogs and share them with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Pownce, all just by ticking a few extra boxes.

"After using Facebook for 4 years, it’s the first place I go to stay in touch with my largest social network," said Jessica Young, Kiva Fellow in Cambodia. "I'm based in Cambodia now, and I was keeping in touch with my friends and family through my personal blog on Vox, with my colleagues through the Kiva Fellow blog on WordPress, and with everyone through my statuses on Twitter. Now, using Blog It to update them all from within Facebook has made it easier and quicker to share my activities in Cambodia with users on just about any service."