With the recent update of the JetPack plugin – a new feature called “Site Management” has been added.

If you run multiple WordPress sites – the chances are – you are using the same plugins on multiple sites. If you would like to streamline plugin updates – you can now easily do so with the new “Site Management” option in JetPack.

How does this work?

1. Update to JetPack 3.3 and enable the new feature by clicking “Activate Now” in the JetPack banner (seen above)
2. Log in to http://wordpress.com/sites to view the sites you have registered, add more if needed.
3. Choose the site you want to configure for plugin updates and see all plugins listed. Select each plugin to configure it (perhaps some plugins you will always want to update automatically, but others not). There are two options – Active and Autoupdates. (Active = plugin active vs. inactive) Autoupdate (auto update this plugin vs do not auto update the plugin)

While this makes managing plugin updates easier – make sure you consider quality assurance testing. Auto updates or mass updating plugins makes updating easy – but the need for quality assurance testing is still needed and should not be overlooked. Whether you have unit tests or do testing with user scripts – remember to still plan for time/effort after the updates.

Thanks to JetPack for taking this on. I look forward to playing around with this.