I’m thrilled to announce NerdPress’ first acquisition: The popular social media sharing WordPress plugin, Grow Social from Mediavine.
When Mediavine approached me with the idea, it was clear that their goal was finding a new home for Grow Social where the new owner would be committed to taking good care of their publishers, first and foremost. They wanted someone who understands their users, and who is deeply embedded and invested in the community.
We’ve worked closely alongside Mediavine for many years, and I consider us a part of “the Mediavine family.” We support hundreds of Mediavine Publishers, collaborating regularly with the Mediavine team on their behalf. I’ve been a guest on their Podcast and Teal Talks, and spoken at the Mediavine Conference. And, of course, I’m a Mediavine Publisher myself at Eating Rules. So it was an obvious fit — and a very quick “Heck yes!”
For us, this isn’t about acquiring “just any” plugin. We jumped at this opportunity because it aligns perfectly with our mission to help our clients grow their businesses and, ultimately, enrich their lives. We’re committed to improving and supporting this essential plugin long-term.
Mediavine also wanted to clear up some longstanding confusion between Grow Social and Grow, their first-party data solution. They’ve asked us to rename the plugin, and we’re happy to oblige!
So as of today, I’m excited to introduce you to its new name: Hubbub!
“Why all the Hubbub,” you ask?
We want to help you generate more hubbub about your sites, and expand your audiences!
Whether you are a seasoned publisher or just starting out, Hubbub — available in both Hubbub Lite and Hubbub Pro versions — not only expands your reach but also provides valuable audience insights for informed decision-making.
With seamless integrations with major social networks like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter/X, Hubbub empowers you to effortlessly share your content on your preferred platforms. We also plan to extend Hubbub’s current reach into new social networks and into the fediverse, to help bring that engagement back to your site.
“I’m delighted that the plugin is moving to the capable hands of Andrew Wilder and the team at NerdPress who have been longtime collaborators with Mediavine.
“The seamlessness of this transition is made possible by Andrew and his team, who understand the unique challenges faced by independent content creators and share our philosophy of empowering small business owners.
“We’re excited to see our publishers continue to share their fantastic content via Hubbub.”
Eric Hochberger, Co-founder and CEO of Mediavine
Introducing Colin Devroe, Our Senior Product Manager
To ensure Hubbub’s continuous improvement and innovation, we’ve brought Colin Devroe onboard as Senior Product Manager.
Colin is a seasoned professional with extensive WordPress and product experience, and no stranger to the world of blogging. He has helped build large-scale WordPress projects and supported independent bloggers of all sizes. His passion and expertise make him the perfect addition to the NerdPress team and we’re incredibly lucky to have him join us.
He has already been outrageously busy helping make this transition a success, and you can expect to hear from him soon right here on the NerdPress blog and also via the new Hubbub newsletter and social media accounts. (Look for those links below.) Welcome to the team, Colin!
Why is this a big deal for NerdPress?
The acquisition of Grow Social and the launch of Hubbub mark a significant milestone for NerdPress. It reinforces our commitment to providing reliable and innovative solutions for our clients and the WordPress community. It likely won’t be our last acquisition and certainly not our last premium offering in the WordPress ecosystem. But what does this mean for you, our valued clients?
Existing Grow Social customers can look forward to a seamless transition and a host of exciting developments with Hubbub. We understand the unique challenges faced by independent content creators, and Hubbub is tailored to empower small business owners like you.
Also, NerdPress’ existing customers can be certain that we’re hard at work improving the plugin now that we are its new stewards. You can expect many updates in the coming months.
The NerdPress team has grown!
In 2023 we added five new amazing people across multiple teams within NerdPress. We’re growing carefully and intentionally as each of our new team members are incredible additions that will help shape and build our product and service offerings well into the new year.
This begins a new chapter for us as we run headfirst into 2024, and we couldn’t be more excited!
You probably have questions. We have answers!
It’s already done! Throughout this process, it’s been very important to everyone that we have as seamless a transition as possible. If you do run into any issues, though, please contact us at support@morehubbub.com.
There are no pricing changes with the transition — your current subscription and pricing will remain the same. As we expand Hubbub and add value we may revisit this in the future, but don’t worry, there will be no surprises.
Yes, please! We’ve released an update to the plugins to update the name and branding. Grow Social is becoming Hubbub Lite, and Grow Social Pro is becoming Hubbub Pro.
Once you see that update available in your WordPress dashboard, please do update! 😁
Yes, all settings on your site will remain exactly-as is. You won’t need to reconfigure anything.
Yes! Our first release doesn’t change any features, but we are planning on improving and expanding Hubbub in the future. Stay tuned for more news soon!
Yes! We’ve made sure all the existing license keys are staying exactly as-is, so you don’t need to change anything.
Nope. We’ve securely transferred your payment information to our new systems, and renewals should continue to process seamlessly. (We can’t see the actual credit card numbers — it’s securely stored on Stripe’s servers.)
If you need to update any billing information, please go to the “Account” section on the Hubbub website — you can use the same login information you had on file for the Mediavine Marketplace site.
We’re thrilled to hear your input! Please email us at support@morehubbub.com.
Learn more about Hubbub at morehubbub.com, and follow us on social media: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter – Mastodon
Helllllooo Hubbub! I’m super excited and grateful to be able to help improve Hubbub for all of our Hubbub Lite users, Hubbub Pro customers, and NerdPress clients! We have a lot to do. Everyone can expect very regular updates to the plugin. Please send us a note if you have a bug report or feature idea!
Nicely done Andrew. Congratulations! ~ karen in canada
I would like to see the change in the logo for Twitter to X. That should be the priority update you should consider. Thanks
Hi Tshering! Yes, this is high on our to-do list — hoping to have this done in our next release.
Hi Tshering!
Hubbub Pro 2.19.0 and Hubbub Lite 1.32.0 now have the X icon instead of the Twitter icon.
Hubbub Pro users also have the option to switch it back, if they prefer to keep it old-school. 🙂
Hi there,
We are having an issue with fine tuning our hubbub functionality on our shopify store. Please could you contact us to sort it out.
Thanks so much,
Catherine
Hi Catherine! Hubbub is a WordPress plugin, so I’m not sure how you’d be using it with Shopify. Nevertheless, if you can please send us an email at support@morehubbub.com with details of the issue you’re having, we’ll do our best to help out. Thanks!