WordPress unveils new live-blogging plugin

This is very cool, especially if CovertLive’s move from free to paid had you distraught. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has unveiled a new live-blogging platform, aptly called Liveblog.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, all you have to do check a box and boom, you’re live-blogging. WordPress says you’ll even be able to turn existing posts into live-blogs.

According to the company:

Your readers want your updates as quickly as possible, and we think we provide the easiest and the most flexible publishing environment to make that happen. Sometimes though, that’s just not enough.

When you’re covering a fast-paced event — the latest Apple unveiling, an F1 Grand Prix, or the Super Bowl — a full blog post for each individual update is a poor experience for your authors and your audience.

There’s also reportedly the ability to drag and drop images from the front end of your site.

Readers meanwhile will be able to view the live blog as it happens without refreshing.

Here’s what it looks like for authors:

And here’s what it’ll look like for your readers:

Automattic has also open-sourced the code, meaning that the plugin can be used on self-hosted sites.