Jetpack is a collection of widgets created by the people who run WordPress.com. It includes widgets for:
- Social sharing (so you can have the LinkedIn and Facebook like buttons on your site)
- Subscriptions (so that students get an automatic email each time you post on your site)
- Simple site statistics (that tell you which pages are being used the most)
- Media integration (so you can easily embed YouTube videos)
- Twitter integration (so you can display a twitter feed)
- Contact form (so you can easily create a special form for students to fill in)
- and many more.
To use Jetpack, do the following:
- Go to your Dashboard and click on Plugins, find “Jetpack by WordPress.com” in the list, and click “Activate”
- You will then see a message on the top of your screen, that says “Jetpack is almost ready…”. You need an account on WordPress.com to use Jetpack (click here to create one). Link your account.
- You are now ready to use Jetpack. Click on Jetpack on the top left of your dashboard, to configure all the options/widgets. Many of the widgets don’t need any further setup. They will be available in your list of widgets (including the “Subscribe” widget).