So now that Multiply is closing, and we have content on there that we are interested in keeping, we have two things need to do. Rescue our material. Find a new home to blog/share photos/chat with our friends.
1. Choose a new home.
Most of my friends who have already left, have gone to the largest two blog hosting sites currently on the Web. Blogger and WordPress. Some of the Multiply-refugee groups have also had good things to say about Blogster.
Each blog site has its own unique style and none of them mimic multiply. They each require getting used to a new system of administration tools, upload tools and theme change tools. But they are not difficult once you get used to them, just different.
Blogger
Blogger is similar to Multiply in that it is very easy to set up and a lot of the technical stuff is done for you. I highly recommend Blogger for first time bloggers and if you just want to get your stuff up there and get on with your life.
Blogger does not allow the formation of photo galleries. Most of the people who use this site, use separate pages as galleries, or host their photos on a separate site such as Flickr or Picasa and import them in.
Here’s a video on how to set up a blogger account and get moving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOhW1mXM1yQ&feature=player_embedded
WordPress
There are two types of WordPress. WordPress.com is the Blogger equivalent. WordPress.org are the tools that your download to your site and use to run your own blog. I started with the first at meltigger.wordpress and then moved to the second form at this place blog.gothtigger.
That’s a big step so at this juncture I’ll talk about the first, easiest version, WordPress.com. It takes a little longer to set up than Blogger because it asks more questions. The flip side is that allows you to make more changes to the look and feel of your site, so if you are one to fiddle, I would recommend this over Blogger.
Although there is greater bandwidth for photos at WordPress, it is not as good for photo albums as Multiply was. I use separate pages as galleries and then use the photos in those galleries in blog posts etc. It saves having to upload the same picture multiple times. See this page or any of my blog pages as examples.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw5InzTqzBU&feature=player_embedded
Blogster
I haven’t tried Blogster but it has received enthusiastic support and recommendation by others. It even has a Multiply-Refugees group set up. One of the largest selling points at the moment is the immense levels of helpfulness the Blogster support staff are giving Multiply Users and new users to their service. It appears to also be fabulous for hosting photos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MstdMen3Eh8&feature=player_embedded
The only downsides with Blogster is that your friends may not be on there – hey you can be a leader instead of a follower! Also as they are careful to keep out a lot of spam, the site reportedly does not work well with Internet Explorer, preferring you to use Firefox or Chrome. Also they have banned Hotmail email accounts.
These changes are well and good for home accounts, (I avoid IE) however many friends do access their blogs and read mine during their lunch breaks at work and many workplaces are firmly wedded to Internet Explorer. I would be loathe to delve deeper into a site that does not work on Explorer unless you know your friends are not stuck using it!
Another Blogspot
Again I haven’t tried it, but this new site is garnering quite a following. Part of the appeal is its complete newness to the blogosphere as the developers are very interactive with the bloggers, listening, conversing, helping and making changes. Bloggers and designers working together to hopefully create something amazing. Again there appears to be a lot of assistance towards Multiply users migrating to this site.
Of course, it goes down for a major maintenance time (upgrading servers to cope to the extra volume) while I am writing this, so not enough links available. I’ll flesh out this section more later.
So how do *I* choose?
The answer is going to be different for everyone. There is not one Multiply replacement service which I can recommend for all. This is sad as we are all scattering, but with the use of RSS feeds we can still follow, subscribe and comment on each others blogs no matter where they are.
If anyone wants a blog post on setting up an RSS reader, let me know.
My recommendation is to have a look through this list, and think for yourself:
- How much time do I want to spend playing with this?
- Do I regularly change my theme or I pick one and stick with it?
- Have I always itched to move things around on my page or am I happy the way they are?
- How important is it *to me* that I’m on the same service as my friends?
There’s no “right” or “wrong” answers for any of the above. There’s only what is right or wrong for you. We each have our own comfort zones and our own priorities for how we want to spend our time each day or weekend.
Finally after thinking it through, I would suggest setting up a blog or two and seeing how each service “feels” to you. Usually you will find one that feels a little easier or a little more intuitive to the way your mind works. THAT will be the blog service you like, that will be the one you will WANT to use, so use it!
In the end, you are the person who will use it, so pick the one you find the easiest for you to use. Write a few blog posts.
In Part 3 I’ll talk about Backing up your Multiply data. But that will be tomorrow. I think my brain has had enough for today.
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