Study finds WordPress to be most popular blog platform

A new study has found WordPress to be the most popular blogging platform among users who like to share content online.

Research conducted by SocialTwist found that 45 per cent of social media users prefer the open source publishing application to its main rivals.

Blogger was the most popular alternative to the program – which was first developed in 2003 – followed by LiveJournal.

Other programs including TypePad, MoveableType and Xanga are all infrequently used by social media sharers, the study indicated.

Last week, it was reported that the WordPress developers had released a new security update – WordPress 2.8.6.

Charles Arthur recently wrote for the Guardian that users of the platform must take some basic steps to protect their blog from hackers.

The newspaper's technology editor claimed that turning off "user registration" is one of the simplest and most effective ways of "hardening" WordPress hosting.

Written by Chris Ball