Twitter for WordPress

Social networks pop into life with bewildering speed these days, but there’s no denying who the big boys are. Twitter, despite its recent travails, remains near the top of the tree.

There’ve always been various options for integrating Twitter with WordPress but site owners can now finally take advantage of a sanctioned one with the official Twitter plugin for WordPress.

Why a tech giant with over 4,000 employees took quite that long to release a plugin for the most popular content management system on earth is a bit of a mystery but Twittermoves in mysterious ways.

The newly released Twitter plugin makes embedding Twitter content (which these days includes tweets, Vine and Periscope material) onto your WordPress site seamless and easy. It also provides options for moving content in the other direction – sharing buttons mean you and your audience can quickly post content back to Twitter from WordPress.

The plugin auto-generates Twitter-friendly markup that works in their 140 character environment and includes  follow buttons which been be easily placed throughout your site. Other standout options include embeddable moments and video, the ability to post multiple tweets in an attractive layout, and analytics for impressions and top users.

You’ve probably already kicked the tires of numerous social media plugins over the years and many of them are guilty of throwing in everything but the kitchen sink with their offerings. The official Twitter plugin is refreshingly single-purpose in terms of supported tools but packs a lot of functionality in at the same time.