Ubuntu Wiki

Open Week -- Marketing Your LoCoTeam -- Leandro Gomez -- Tue, May 4

EDT -5

(12:01:18 PM) leogg: Heya!
(12:01:32 PM) leogg: For those of you who don't know me...
(12:01:46 PM) leogg: My name is Leandro and I'm a member of the Ubuntu LoCo Council and an active contributor of the Ubuntu Nicaragua LoCo Team
(12:02:02 PM) leogg: Today I'll talk about "Tools, tips and tactics for promoting your Ubuntu Local Team"
(12:02:28 PM) leogg: My intention was to cover several areas, such as the Internet, video and audio production, graphics, newsletters, etc.
(12:02:51 PM) leogg: But I realized yesterday (when I gave this session at the UOW in Spanish), that one hour is not really that much time for this topic :(
(12:03:19 PM) leogg: So I'll give you the 'light' version and focus entirely on the Internet part
(12:03:45 PM) leogg: Hopefully, in the near future, I'll blog some more on this topic if you're interested :)
(12:04:10 PM) leogg: First of all... Why do you need to promote your LoCo?
(12:04:25 PM) leogg: * Recruit new contributors
(12:04:44 PM) leogg: * Share your experiencies with other teams around the world
(12:05:00 PM) leogg: * Show the awesomeness of your LoCo Team!!! :)
(12:05:30 PM) leogg: Let's begin taking a close look at the LoCo website
(12:05:57 PM) leogg: I assume that most (if not all) of the LoCo teams already have a website...
(12:06:19 PM) leogg: So... how is it working for you?
(12:06:36 PM) leogg: Is your website really effective?
(12:07:08 PM) leogg: Do the people who visit your website get involved in the community?
(12:07:43 PM) YokoZar left the room.
(12:07:49 PM) leogg: One of important questions we always forget to make is "What are the goals of the LoCo website?"
(12:08:28 PM) leogg: * To provide support and information about Ubuntu in your local language?
(12:09:05 PM) leogg: * To educate about free software?
(12:09:32 PM) leogg: * To create an organisational identity (e.g. Ubuntu users from North Carolina)?
(12:10:04 PM) leogg: * To expand your base and mobilise your supporters?
(12:10:17 PM) leogg: * All of the above?
(12:10:52 PM) leogg: We must know all the answers long before we even start to discuss about which platform we're going to use for the site
(12:11:42 PM) yofel_ is now known as yofel
(12:12:02 PM) leogg: The content and structure of your website will depend on what you want to use the website for
(12:12:44 PM) leogg: But if your LoCo already have a website? What can you do?
(12:13:16 PM) leogg: Well... good news!
(12:14:04 PM) leogg: As all of you know, Ubuntu has a new branding... and that's the perfect excuse for dumping that old dull site and have a new fresh start
(12:14:59 PM) leogg: Who knows? Maybe you'll be able to recruit new contributors for your team :)
(12:15:14 PM) leogg: Keep in mind:
(12:15:43 PM) leogg: The KISS principle! (no... it's not the band!) :)
(12:15:54 PM) leogg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_principle
(12:16:15 PM) leogg: "Keep it simple and straightforward"
(12:17:04 PM) leogg: A website with a overwhelming amount of information may look messy and can be hard to read
(12:17:51 PM) leogg: Remember: Your website is the face of your community to the outside world!
(12:18:22 PM) leogg: I really love http://ubuntu-za.org/
(12:18:47 PM) leogg: Nice, simple, clean
(12:19:12 PM) leogg: (BTW, when are you guys releasing the theme? ;) )
(12:20:02 PM) leogg: It might be a good idea to create a 'webmaster team' on Launchpad and a related project (your website!)
(12:20:44 PM) leogg: Webmaster team:
(12:20:45 PM) leogg: https://edge.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-ni-webmasters
(12:21:09 PM) leogg: Related project:
(12:21:15 PM) leogg: https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu-ni-website
(12:21:36 PM) leogg: Bugs!
(12:21:39 PM) leogg: https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu-ni-website
(12:22:27 PM) leogg: Using LP enables anyone on your team to file bugs against the website (as a way to track errors and improve the site)
(12:23:09 PM) leogg: You can also create blueprints, assign tasks and answer questions (support)
(12:23:38 PM) leogg: Resources for LoCo websites:
(12:23:59 PM) leogg: Drupal, FTW! - http://drupal.org/
(12:24:40 PM) leogg: Most Ubuntu sites uses Drupal (it doesn't mean that you _must_ use it too, but it helps for visual identity and consistency all across the sites)
(12:25:27 PM) leogg: The Ubuntu Drupal Development wiki - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDrupal
(12:26:02 PM) leogg: Ubuntu Drupal Development Suite in LP - https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu-drupal
(12:26:29 PM) leogg: <drubin> leogg: We changed (ubuntu-za) from media wiki because of the identiy thing
(12:26:58 PM) leogg: I prefer media wiki over moin moin
(12:27:13 PM) leogg: It's easier to use and tweak
(12:27:33 PM) leogg: But you're right abut the 'identity thing'
(12:27:48 PM) leogg: The look-and-feel is important
(12:28:08 PM) leogg: Your users must be aware they're on a Ubuntu site
(12:28:45 PM) leogg: Ok... I have no questions so far...
(12:28:54 PM) leogg: So I'll just move on :)
(12:29:02 PM) leogg: Next:
(12:29:14 PM) leogg: 2. Micro-blogging
(12:29:52 PM) leogg: Micro-blogging sites (such as identi.ca and twitter) allows users to send 'updates' (text-based posts called tweets or dents) up to 140 characters long
(12:30:41 PM) leogg: Twitter and Identica will allow you to send updates to one person, to a closed group of contacts or as public messages that can be seen by anyone
(12:31:11 PM) leogg: These updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them
(12:31:44 PM) leogg: Micro-blogging is a great tool that can deliver your message in a simple and effective way to hundreds (or even thousands) of people
(12:32:17 PM) leogg: If you haven't done it yet, create an account for your team
(12:32:25 PM) leogg: Go! Go! Go! :)
(12:32:50 PM) leogg: You can link your identica account to the twitter account
(12:33:17 PM) leogg: In that way all updates will appear on both sites
(12:34:31 PM) leogg: Another cool thing you can do is link your micro-blogging account to the blogs aggregated on your planet (if you have one)
(12:34:42 PM) apachelogger is now known as huntlogger
(12:34:49 PM) zen is now known as Guest72590
(12:35:06 PM) leogg: That's a good idea if you don't have much spare time for tweeting/denting
(12:35:22 PM) leogg: http://twitterfeed.com/
(12:35:48 PM) leogg: Make good use of your hashtags!
(12:36:24 PM) leogg: A post in identica with the !ubuntu hashtag will make your update visible to the more than 6,000 members of the Ubuntu users group
(12:36:46 PM) leogg: Again... Make good use of your hashtags! (use it wisely, do not spam!)
(12:37:43 PM) leogg: <drubin> leogg: Do you know when canonical are going to release official themes/fonts?
(12:37:52 PM) leogg: Soon :)
(12:38:28 PM) leogg: Ivanka Majic, the Design Team Lead and all the guys at Canonical are doing a wonderful job!
(12:38:53 PM) leogg: But to be honest, I don't know when they're going to release the official artwork
(12:39:20 PM) leogg: Be sure to check out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/VisualIdentity
(12:39:53 PM) leogg: <ninnnu> How 'bout just using a Identica-group? Ubuntu-fi went for just creating one of those, and biweekly we gather a blogpost from all the (important) dents. Same post is also put to our Facebook-page.
(12:40:22 PM) leogg: That's a great idea!
(12:40:27 PM) leogg: We have one too :)
(12:40:54 PM) leogg: <vocx> One of the reasons I avoid micro-blogging is precisely because it seems to become spam really fast.
(12:40:59 PM) leogg: True!
(12:41:26 PM) leogg: As I said... use your tools wisely and with moderation :)
(12:42:06 PM) leogg: <drubin> !ubuntu is mostly converstations instead of announcements
(12:42:32 PM) leogg: Yep, and occasionally a lot of flaming
(12:42:54 PM) leogg: Let's move on...
(12:43:04 PM) leogg: 3. Social networking
(12:43:51 PM) leogg: This part may be somewhat controversial (considering that we are part of a free software community)
(12:44:12 PM) leogg: Facebook is not a free platform (neither is Twitter)
(12:44:58 PM) leogg: Should we, as free software communities, use (and promote the use) of non-free platforms?
(12:45:16 PM) leogg: My personal opinion on this:
(12:45:27 PM) leogg: YES!
(12:46:04 PM) leogg: As much as I would love to see the communities use 100% free software...
(12:46:20 PM) leogg: ...the reality is that "we must go where the non-Ubuntu users are"
(12:46:38 PM) leogg: It's useless to advocate about the benefits of free software to our community members
(12:46:51 PM) leogg: They already know this stuff!
(12:47:19 PM) leogg: We must cross the street and persuade our proprietary neighbours... yes, the ones who use Facebook :)
(12:48:02 PM) leogg: Social networks have a viral aspect: people may sign up to your cause because they've seen it in a friend's news feed or on their profile on a social network site
(12:48:40 PM) leogg: Make it easy for people to sign up by adding your social networking profile to your website.
(12:49:13 PM) leogg: * Create fan communities on the social network sites, and encourage your friends to participate
(12:50:24 PM) leogg: * Tell people to use specific tags so you can aggregate (bring together) all content they create that relates to your team
(12:50:48 PM) leogg: Resources on social networking:
(12:51:14 PM) leogg: Online communities - http://www.facebook.com/
(12:51:31 PM) leogg: (not the only one, but at least the one we use as community)
(12:51:46 PM) leogg: Social bookmarking - http://delicious.com/
(12:52:07 PM) leogg: Social news site - http://digg.com/
(12:53:04 PM) leogg: <drubin> leogg: Why did you split microblogging and Social networking, How did you feel they differ?
(12:53:42 PM) leogg: I think that social networks, such as Facebook, are way more flexible than the micro-blogging platforms
(12:54:14 PM) leogg: For example, you can upload videos and photos to FB and they show up on your profile
(12:54:30 PM) leogg: The same thing cannot be done with twitter or identica
(12:55:05 PM) leogg: Any more questions?
(12:58:23 PM) leogg: Well... that's all then... :) If you want to get in touch with me, just drop by #ubuntu-centroamerica
(12:58:30 PM) leogg: Thank you, guys!
(12:59:55 PM) akgraner: leogg, Thank you so much!