Celebrating Five Wonderful Years!

Happy 5th Birthday Firefox! Over the last few days I’ve been struggling to distill what this awesome milestone means to me into a single post (Mitchell Baker and Chris Blizzard have some great thoughts).  I started working on a top 10 list, but last night as I started to see early pictures come in from Rome it was completely clear.  The community that has sprung around Mozilla and Firefox is hands down the most meaningful and absolutely incredible aspect of this anniversary.

One of my favorite Firefox Flicks “The Briefcase Syndicate” and the new Firefox video really illustrate the amazing power of our community.  We’re all part of a global network, connected by a shared passion and working together to better everyone’s Web experience.   It makes me a little weepy-eyed when I think about what we’ve been able to accomplish together and frankly, have fun while we’re doing it.  Chris Hofmann says it best:  I LOVE this community!

I won’t get all maudlin on you.  I’ll just close with a snapshot of the wonderfulness that has gone on in less than 24 hours…here’s to “Lighting the World with Firefox!”:

Happy B-day Firefox by lucerosama, The Phillipines

Firefox on the Roman Colesium - need I say more?

Gorjan Jovanovski blankets Skopje, Macedonia with billboards

Firefox + Traffic lights in Zulia, Venezuela courtesy of Alexander Salas

Abhinav Kishore's laptop in India...how did he do this??

Firefox Cake in Sofia, Bulgaria designed by Bogo Shopov

How to light the world with Firefox

Last week I shared our goal to “Light the World with Firefox” for  the 5th anniversary of Firefox.  By popular demand I’m including some more information and inspiration to help you get started.

Mobile: Get the Firefox logo on your phone by visiting the “Light the world with Firefox” mobile page on your phone and take a picture.  (URL:  http://bit.ly/fx5mobile) Get a shot in front of a local landmark. Or, organize a bunch of friends at a Firefox party for a group picture.

The mobile team having fun!

Mash-Up: We’re looking for the most interesting ways you can combine Firefox and light…without setting anything on fire!  350.org had a recent campaign with a great example of light painting. Check out some other examples here.

Photo Credit: Peter Solness

Shadow & Light Play: We’ve created stencils that will help you project the Firefox logo on a wall. Use the stencils to create a cut out of the Firefox logo on black or very thick paper.  Tape colored film over the cutout for  fun effect.

Large logo & wordmark stencil

Please share any light-related Firefox artwork (posters, wallpapers, stencils and more) you create with the world by submitting them to our latest Mozilla Creative Collective Challenge.  At the same, please upload all videos and pictures of your handy work on Flickr with the tag “Firefox5″.  We’ll feature submissions on a special site launching on November 9th and the most creative actions will be rewarded with some cool Firefox swag.

Have a great idea?  Share below by commenting!

Light the World with Firefox!

I’m back after a brief blogging hiatus and with an campaign that will hopefully inspire you and capture your imagination!  In order to celebrate Firefox’s 5th birthday (Nov. 9, 2009), we’re kicking off a special campaign called “Light the World with Firefox.”  We’re putting a call out for the most creative use of the Firefox logo and light.

Here are a few ideas, but don’t feel limited!

• Spotlight: Borrow a projector and shine the Firefox logo on the wall during a Firefox party, or make a logo stencil and place it in front of a flashlight for a cool effect (think shadow puppets). Or, go crazy and get a searchlight to create your very own Firefox “bat signal“.
• Mash-Up: Think of the most interesting way you can combine Firefox and light. For example, create the logo out of candles on a birthday cake, program your very own lite-brite or light show, or create a fun wallpaper! If you’re really have a lot of time on your hands (and skills) you could even create a light show.  The more creative, the better.
• Mobile: Get the Firefox logo on your phone and take a picture holding it in front of a local landmark. Or, organize a bunch of friends for a big group photo with the logo on everyone’s phones.

Please upload all videos and pictures on Flickr with the tag “Firefox5″.  We’ll feature submissions on a special site launching on November 9th and the most creative actions will be rewarded with some cool Firefox swag.  Remember to have fun, but be safe and use common sense.  And, get permission before projecting our logo on public buildings!

If you’re looking for other ways to help celebrate the coming anniversary, here’s how:

• Host a party
• Join our Facebook group
• Sport a twibbon

We’re all looking forward to celebrating five years of hard work on the 9th!

Free services and support next week from Mozservice friends!

One of the great “side effects” of Mozilla Service Week is the number of organizations that share our belief in the importance of the Web who have stepped forward to participate in Mozilla Service Week and help individuals and organizations.  Here is a sampling:

CiviCRM, an open source and free constituent relationship management solution, has donated 100 hours to help organizations with CiviCRM.   They’ll help organizations with both short term support (phone conference consultation, CiviCRM installation, etc) and then three selected organizations with CiviCRM customization installations.   Find out how to take advantage of CiviCRM’s services here.

Creative Commons which focuses on increasing and sharing the creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing, is hosting a series of online office hours next week.  Join if you’re interested in learning how to use CC, publish your CC work and more.

Grassroots.org which provides non-profit organizations with free valuable technologies and resources to increase their efficiency and productivity is hosting an online workshop next week.   Come learn about their free services!

Mahiti Infotech is a social enterprise based in Bangalore, India.  Mahiti works with organizations, including non-profits, to help them deploy Free and Open Source Software.  Mahiti has donated 200 hours to Mozilla Service Week and is offering to help any non-profit in India migrate to FOSS, including email and operating systems, free of charge!   Sign up here.

Thanks all for joining us in Mozilla Service Week.  I challenge other software companies and organizations to step up and offer up your services next week as well.

Putting those hours spent on Facebook to good use!

I’m sure you’ve all heard (just a few times) that Facebook and twitter can be a waste of time — but did you know that your hours spent using Social Media can help non-profits?  Social Media tools can greatly help an NPO connect with its community, donors and the general public – for free!

As you may know, we’re in the process of rolling out action templates for Mozilla Service Week for those that would like to create their own opportunities or need a little more flexibility   They’re sets of actions and resources that you can use to help non-profits, organizations and individuals improve their experience online and allow them to better leverage the Web.  This week’s template focuses on Social Media (Digital Marketing Template) and guides volunteers through setting up organizations with a preliminary social media marketing framework (see Chelsea Novak’s blog for more details).

Tara Shahian, Jeff Zeller and I conducted our first Social Media seminar this past Monday at Envision Schools. Not only was it a lot of fun, but it opened their eyes to new ways to use twitter, Facebook, Twibbon and more.  A few learnings:

• Clarify upfront their goals and audiences — this will better shape the conversation and set of tools you recommend.
• Not everyone has a built-in Social Media audience like Mozilla & Firefox.  We spent some time talking about how to build a base on twitter and Facebook.  It really helps to leverage existing communications channels such as newsletters and tapping into friends and supporters to get the word out.

Feel free to use my presentation and let me know if you have any feedback or want to share a “remix.”

We’re hoping these templates make it easier for you to act!  If you have any ideas on new ones or would like create some, please comment here.  A few ideas to keep in mind if you’d like to use these templates or others:

• Take a moment to pledge your hours.
• Share your plans or stories on Mozilla Service Week’s site — it will help provide inspiration for others.
• Challenge your friends to do this as well using PledgeBank (i.e. I will perform 10 Internet Health Checks if 20 of my friends do so as well).

And, remember to have fun!

Wrap up from today’s Mozilla Service Week Workshop

Thanks for joining everyone — I realize it was early morning and late night for most!   I wanted to share out the presentation and video for those who couldn’t make it.  Yes, that’s me mysteriously lurking in a trench coat in the dark upfront (note to self:  test lighting next time!).

We also promised more detail on the Mozilla Creative Collective design challenge for Mozilla Service Week so here you go!

In order to keep the dialogue going I’ve set up a forum on Spread Firefox to share service and promotion ideas.  Please chime in with questions and thoughts!

Mozilla Service Week: How to act now!

Mozilla Service Week is just around the corner – September 14 to 21, 2009! Today we announced new partners, new languages (French, Italian, English and Spanish) and new ways to contribute!  I’ll be sharing more details on how to promote and contribute to Mozilla Service Week in tomorrow’s online workshop, but wanted to give you a quick glimpse of what you can do today:

• Register for Mozilla Service Week
• Pledge some hours!
• Share your story and plans for Mozilla Service Week
• Spread the word:
• Blog about Mozilla Service Week and what you hope to do.
• Tweet, add a Twibbon or update your Facebook status.  We’re using the hashtag:  #mozservice09.  Details here.
• Join and invite your friends to our Facebook event.
• Place an affiliate button on your blog.

We hope you’ll join us in Mozilla Service Week and make a difference by helping people and organizations use something you love – the Web!

How do you fit into Mozilla Service Week? Find out!

Mozilla Service Week is just around the corner — September 14 – 21, 2009.  Wondering how you can help contribute or promote service week?  Find out by joining us for an online workshop on August 19th at 9 a.m. PDT/16:00 UTC to learn how to get the word out and different ways to volunteer.  Details are here:

• Dial-in Info: +1.650.903.0800, followed by 92# and then 7391#
• Or you can use our toll-free number: +1.800.707.2533, followed by 369# and then 7391#. If you’re outside the US, use Skype to call in with our toll-free number.
• You can also watch the meeting live in Open Video at http://air.mozilla.com
• For those that can’t make the call or want to participate online, join us in #moservice on IRC (irc.mozilla.org).

Let’s get our service on!

Looking back at the Firefox 3.5 Launch

Veera Venkata Chowdary Veerapaneni's Firefox 3.5 party in Hyderabad, India

In the beginning of 2009 we took a look at our community marketing team and how we could make engagement more interactive and meaningful.  We’ve always had wonderful and creative community marketing efforts, such as the Firefox Crop Circle, but it seemed like it was difficult to jump in and figure out where to start.  The Firefox 3.5 launch seemed like a perfect opportunity to jump start our team.  We kicked off the year with the goals to:

• Develop and recognize a team of community marketing leaders
• Create more meaningful ways to contribute
• Create hands on marketing learning opportunities for the whole team
• Increase our global marketing reach

To accomplish these goals and empower our community we did some basic housekeeping such as introducing bi-weekly community calls and revived the marketing mailing list.  We also rolled an educational video workshop series on different aspects of marketing, including events, social media and PR.  Over the first half of 2009, the team grew quite a bit, especially when you consider there were 15 people actively contributing to Download Day marketing efforts:

• 130+ members on Firefox Launch team
• 300 new campus reps signed on leading up to launch
• 17,000 new users joined Spread Firefox since its relaunch this spring
• Lots of new faces joined the team, including folks for from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Macedonia & more

The growth in the team itself and our focus on meaningful engagement meant some great results in marketing efforts around Firefox 3.5 — basically the team rocked!  Here’s a quick look, but check out our recap presentation for more details:

• The team heavily leveraged social media resulting in Firefox as a trending topic on Twitter (sorry MJ!)
• More in-depth contribution from community marketing team such as Vineel Reddy’s Firefox 3.5 video, MozCamp Mumbai and the Shiretoko Shock campaign
• Greater geographic representation and awareness for Firefox 3.5

I’ve done a lot of thinking about what this all means and how we did.  I’m really pleased about the deeper engagement and rich set of self-initiated activities that we saw, especially when you consider the relatively low upfront investment needed for some of these efforts.  I don’t want to downplay the amount of individual time that community members put into promoting the launch, but Download Day, in contrast, was very resource intensive (WebDev, localization, etc).  We also had a set of activities, especially around social media, that had a low barrier to entry allowing just about anyone to contribute.   The one thing we were missing was the heady big bang of Download Day and we might want to consider a more orchestrated campaign next year.  Any ideas?

I’m interested to hear how you think we did and what you’d do to improve the community marketing team.  I do think we’re still looking for that perfect platform to make our bi-weekly meetings more interactive and I’d really like to see us spending more time leveraging social networks other than Facebook.  Comment below or drop me a line at mary at mozilla dot com with your thoughts!

Celebrating the launch!

I want to take a moment to thank the amazing community marketing team for making this such a great launch!  It was pretty incredible to see tweets and Facebook updates spilling in from all over the world via Shiretoko Shock.

We’d love to do a wrap up of all the great activities that took place on launch day.  Please take a moment to help us collect and share the following on our activity tracker:

• Blog posts you created or found on Firefox 3.5
• Mentions of Firefox 3.5 on Twitter, Facebook or Digg
• Articles about Firefox 3.5 on news sites
• Videos or photos related to Firefox 3.5
• Details about Firefox 3.5 launch parties
• More!

We’ll share all the results at the next community marketing call on July 15th.  We’ll also be sending some very cool Firefox goodies for those that have helped make this launch great so be sure to submit  your activities!  And, don’t forget to have some fun by finding a Firefox party near you!