The Downfall of TypePad: Implications for Legal Bloggers
TypePad is a blogging platform of twenty-three years, currently under the ownership of Endurance International Group. Prior to Endurance, it was held by SAY Media, a product of the merger between Six Apart and Video Egg.
Given TypePad’s present problems, the platform is not a reliable blogging medium for legal practitioners, or indeed, any professionals.
- There are currently no RSS feeds available to distribute blog posts to the major legal content providers and mainstream aggregators for widespread dissemination, let alone to libraries, bloggers and journalists
- The platform ceased accepting new users four years ago and, as a consequence, is the platform is not likely being enhanced or even maintained.
- TypePad is referring any blogging platform inquiries to platforms based on WordPress.
- Attorneys utilizing the TypePad platform for blogging have reported issues that impact both the publication process and the readership engagement.
- The archival status of legal blog content hosted on TypePad is currently under potential jeopardy.
- Blogs hosted on TypePad will be excluding from legal research and citation where legal blogs running on WordPress based platforms will be accessible along with primary law (cases, statutes, regulations) and traditional secondary law (law reviews and journals).
- Likely exclusion of blog content from the corpus of legal content being used by AI for legal research and document creation.
No doubt, TypePad has played an instrumental role in the establishment of LexBlog. My intention is not to criticize or undermine its significance in any way.
In the autumn of 2003, I discovered that Six Apart, a company owned by Mena and Ben Trott, was offering their blogging software, Movable Type, as a web-based platform known as TypePad.
The projection was to amass 10,000 paying subscribers within a 90-day timeframe, reminiscent of the early growth figures associated with AOL. This intriguing prospect prompted my decision to venture into blogging.
My experience with TypePad was positive. My use of the platform for blogging garnered significant attention from legal professionals nationwide. This led to my founding LexBlog, upon the ultra-niche of blogs for lawyers.
Numerous media corporations were utilizing TypePad. In lieu of installing and developing a MovableType platform for LexBlog, an action previously undertaken, I even attempted to acquire a comprehensive license for TypePad. This was prior to our transition to WordPress.
In the long run though, TypePad presented significant limitations.
Its design capabilities were minimal, if not non-existent. The platform also fell short in providing comprehensive email notifications, a feature crucial for seamless communication.
Moreover, it lacked several other essential features that legal professionals require, most notably our dedicated support and the customization of a publishing platform designed specifically for professional use.
Numerous legal professionals and educators have persistently utilized TypePad with success over the years.
However, the continuation of this practice is not devoid of substantial risks. These risks pose a potential threat to the valuable time and significant contributions these legal practitioners have made towards the law and the public’s access to such legal insight.
Similar to numerous law firms of various sizes that have transitioned from TypePad to WordPress platforms, I’d highly recommended for those still utilizing TypePad to consider the shift.