WordPress is open source blogging software that allows users to interact through comments on blog posts. Blogs contain text, images, and sometimes other media arranged chronologically. WordPress runs on a MySQL database and uses PHP for functionality, CSS for design, and XHTML markup. It features widgets, plugins, themes, and SEO-friendly permalinks. Popular WordPress plugins include Akismet for spam prevention and Google Analytics for analytics. Successful bloggers create their own domain, choose a host and theme, write consistent content, and build an audience through social media and email lists. They may also include multimedia like audio, video, and images to engage readers.