State of the Word 2024 Video + Recap

On Dec. 16, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, Lead Architect Matías Ventura, and Executive Director Mary Hubbard were joined by WordPress community member Junko Nukaga to reflect on all things WordPress at Tokyo Node Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The venue provided the perfect location for the annual event, which was held for the second time outside of the United States.

After delivering the evening’s keynote, Matt, Matias, and Mary were joined by distinguished guests including author and poet Mieko Kawakami, Things Become Other Things author Craig Mod, mgn CEO Hajime Ogushi, and SAKURA Internet Inc. Senior Director Genki Taniguchi. The talented pianist Aiko Takei also performed during the introduction and intermission.

If you missed the livestream, you can watch the full event below:

Highlights from 2024

2024 was a busy year for the WordPress project. Here are some particularly noteworthy moments and milestones that Matt, Matias, and Mary reflected upon from the event stage:

WordPress is growing in Japan (and beyond). Our favorite open-source CMS currently powers 43.6% of all websites around the world, and has a CMS share of 62.3%. In Japan, it powers 58.5% of all websites and maintains a 83% CMS share.

The global community is growing too. WordPress sites using languages other than English are expected to surpass English language sites by 2025.

It’s all about extensibility. WordPress users downloaded plugins 2.35 billion times in 2024. Users can install plugins on the Business plan and above.

Writing and designing with WordPress has never been easier. An improved distraction-free mode provides a cleaner experience when writing in the editor. Thanks to the new zoom-out view, you can use patterns without setting up each single block.

Enhancements for builders and developers. The Templates API streamlines registering and managing custom templates, while WordPress Playground became even more useful thanks to an improved Github integration.

Even more free-to-use visual and audio content. Openverse, a free tool that makes it easy to find open-licensed and public domain works, grew to 884 million images and 4.2 million audio files. Learn how to use Openverse directly in WordPress.com.

WordPress in Japan

WordPress is flourishing all around the world, thanks in part to the generous support and contributions of the Japanese WordPress community. Here are a few key highlights and fun facts:

Japan was the first country to localize WordPress, thanks to a forum post from the user Otsukare.

Wapuu, WordPress’s lovable mascot, was created by web designer and illustrator Kazuko Kaneuchi. You can learn all about Wapuu (and even buy Wapuu merchandise) at wapu.us.

The popular forms plugin Contact Form 7, created by Japanese developer Takayuki Miyoshi, reached 10 million downloads in 2024. You can follow Miyoshi’s blog (which is hosted on WordPress.com) at ideasilo.wordpress.com.

The Japanese WordPress community hosted 189 meetups in 2024. Find WordPress meetups in your area or learn how to start your own meetup.

Q&A session

It wouldn’t be State of the Word without a question-and-answer segment. Audience members (including Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein) sparked engaging conversations around topics that included:

What open social platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon mean for web publishers.

How will AI continue to impact search engine optimization in the future.

Why websites are still relevant (and why it’s important to own your online home)

And much more. You can watch the full session below: