Right now, as you’re reading this, I’m on a plane on route to Shanghai, China. Those who are following me on Twitter would have also seen a few tweets about me having some fun on the airplane. For those who are wondering, no, Air Canada does not have WiFi in the sky. So, how am I posting those tweets and this blog post while I’m 40,000 feet in the air? The answer is the timestamp.
The WordPress Timestamp
WordPress has a timestamp feature which shows when a post went live. Normally, the time posted is the time you hit the publish button, but timestamp is user adjustable. Therefore, I can write a bunch of blog posts in advance and timestamp them to show up at different hours of the day.
Using the timestamp is extremely easy. Just write your post like normal but instead of hitting Publish, you edit the timestamp for the time you want to post to goes live, then hit publish. Your post won’t be on the blog front page until that time comes.
You’re reading this post now, but I actually wrote this a couple of days ago. I like to maintain a backlog of three to four posts in the timestamp queue. This way I know I have posts coming up if I enter one those “OMG! I have nothing to write about!” periods. The timestamp is a great way to keep the content on your blog flowing at an even pace while you’re away for a few days, or in my case, a month.
The Twitter Timestamp
To timestamp a twitter tweet, I use a service call Tweet Later. Like the WordPress timestamp, Tweet Later allows you to schedule your tweet to go live at a certain time and a certain date. The service is free and extremely easy to use. Simply write your tweet and then sent the time you want to tweet to go live. The rest is automatic.
With the WordPress and Tweet Later timestamp, I can keep the updates flowing and create the illusion that I’m blogging and twittering from the plane. Hopefully, Air Canada will gets WiFi in the sky soon so I’ll be able to really blog and tweet at 40,000 feet.
See you in Shanghai! I land in 10 hours.
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