This has got to be one of the funnier things I have ever watched in my life…

I come to you today with some big news.

I am very excited to announce that I have joined the Automattic team! While you might not be totally familiar with the Automattic name, chances are you have interacted with one of our many products, including WordPress, BuddyPress, PollDaddy, VideoPress and many more. From the moment I met the team here, I have been very impressed with the company, the products and the culture. Automattic was founded back in 2005 by the awesome Matt Mullenweg and our CEO is Toni Schneider. Automattic is really driven by innovation and the team, which is still relatively small, is spread out all around the planet.

My new role will be Director of Platform Services for WordPress VIP and I’ll be working to help expand and support the fast growing WordPress VIP program in government (federal, state, local) and in the political realm. I’ll also dabble in other areas, such as non-profit, NGOs and with large movement-based organizations, but this will be my primary focus.

WordPress VIP is growing like crazy. We work with many big name brands and the list seems to be growing everyday. Here’s a handful of our customers whose sites you probably frequent often:

-CNN
-Time.com
-TechCrunch
-NBC Sports
-TED
-AllThingsD
-Dow Jones
-CBS
-GigaOM
-NFL.com Blogs (Yes…Philadelphia Eagles)
-VentureBeat

On top of that, WordPress is on fire. I’m joining at a time when the company is seeing major growth and I hope that my efforts can add to that momentum. Check out this infographic from Yoast – it will give you a nice little snapshot of WordPress in terms of the size and reach of the platform.

I’m very grateful for the past couple of years – my work at Ning and Mightybell put me in a fantastic position to hit the ground running in this new role and I’ve learned a lot from some very talented people. I’m excited to get going and I hope to hear from all of you with questions and ideas on how to best impact this huge market. You can always find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or you can contact me at my new work email: ps at automattic dot com.

And we’re off! Thanks for stopping by.

Oh man, I love Grace Potter and the Nocturnals! Check out this vifro from Coachella:

A little Friday tuneage for your listening enjoyment. What I’m listening to this afternoon.

Have a great weekend!

I finally listed to Bruce Springsteen’s SXSW keynote address in full. Really inspiring. You can watch the full video here.

Beautiful day in Chicago, Illinois!

Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up (feat. Eminem) (by hmatkin)