A couple of weeks ago, we reported that the highly popular blog host WordPress.com now allows its users to reply to comments by email, but starting today, WordPress.com is taking its email strategy even further, and now allows users to post text and images by email as well. Those WordPress.com users who subscribe to the VideoPress upgrade will now also be able to upload videos to their blogs by email, and those who subscribe to the WordPress Space Upgrade can also post MP3 attachments. The service now gives every user a 'secret' email address to sent their posts to. These addresses can be activated from the WordPress.com dashboard.]]>
Being able to post images, audio, and text by email can often be extremely useful, especially while traveling. Given that email is pretty much ubiquitous, mobile users can now easily send their stories and photos to WordPress without having to resort to using special blogging apps on their phones (which are often a bit of a letdown anyway). Posting by email also allows mobile users more flexibility than just writing a short Twitter post and sending images to Twitpic.
Features
One nice feature of WordPress' Post By Email feature is that the service automatically creates a gallery for posts with multiple pictures. Users can also easily post YouTube videos by email, as the service automatically creates an embed when it sees a YouTube URL in an email. WordPress also supports a number of additional short codes that give users more control over the formatting of their posts.
WordPress vs. Posterous
Of course, Posterous is probably the most well-known post-by-email service. Just like WordPress, Posterous allows users to quickly post text, images, and videos by email. Posterous, though, puts a stronger emphasis on sharing content from other sites, especially since the service introduced its bookmarklet in February. Unlike on WordPress, though, users on Posterous have no other option but to post by email or through the bookmarklet. The simplicity of Posterous is definitely one of the main draws of the service, but it looks like WordPress now offers a very similar degree of functionality, with, of course, the whole feature set of the WordPress blogging platform thrown in for good measure.