Posting regularly on blog

Documentation General
#1

We're off to a good start thanks to Jean for setting up the blog on
libodocs.wordpress.com.

I would like to see the blog have regular updates. A post or two every so
often. I don't think we have enough contributors right now for a daily post
but we can certainly do one per week to start. Between the four of us on the
blog as of now, that is one post per month. We must recruit more
contributors, even guest posts. Anyone know any celebrities? The posts do
not have to be long, maybe one paragraph giving one tip for one feature of
LibO that we use or that may not be obvious to the new user. If we stick to
a schedule and our blog is regularly updated, constantly changing with
something new, I'm sure we would attract an audience. That plus marketing
the blog in our email signatures both personal and social network, will get
us noticed. What do you think?
*John Shabanowitz
http://libodocs.wordpress.com
We're recruiting, come join us.*

#2

Actually there are only three of us on the blog right now, so it's even
more important to have others contributing. So please join us! Even if
you're an inexperienced writer, don't feel shy -- it's a great way to
get some practice before launching into something longer and more
ambitious.

--Jean

#3

Could it be four contributors including me? I'd love to help out however
possible. Having only just signed up for the email list, I'm a little unsure
where to begin helping. Blogging sounds doable. My wordpress account is
"timtoe."

Please, put me to work!

~Tim

#4

The more, the merrier Elliot. I've just added you to the blog user list
as an author.

--Jean

#5

Go ahead and add me too, Jean. My Wordpress account name is Loquacity.

L

#6

Thanks, Jean. I'll have to review the documentation we already have and
brainstorm some ideas.

As for right now, John makes a brilliant point about pushing the blog in
other social media outlets. I'm assuming the people in marketing are in
charge of updating Twitter. Is the official account @docufoundation or
@librofficenews? I don't see a tweet for our latest post at either. And both
facebook pages don't have newsfeeds, which could really help us out. How do
we contact them to let them know about the blog?

~Tim Elliot Turner

#7

The individual posts have Twitter and Facebook "Share" buttons on them,
but I don't know anything about the two Twitter accounts you mention
(sorry, I just haven't paid attention to that side of things).

Our blog entries do turn up in the TDF Planet -- although when I checked
just now, the latest isn't there. In fact, nothing for yesterday or
today is there, so the Planet aggregator must be running behind.

I don't have time to pursue the social media myself, but John's been
asking other questions on, I think, the Marketing list, so he or you
could ask there about what to do... if no one from that side of things
pops up here with the answer.

--Jean

#8

I completely understand that you're busy, John. With that in mind, thanks
especially for helping me get a foot in the water. I've subscribed to the
other mailing list and will start figuring out... everything from there.

In the meantime, if there is a member with the time to serve in the capacity
as a mentor I could really use some reading material or direction in order
to get started. You may contact me directly at sf.freelance@gmail.com, as
I'd rather not further clutter this mailing list. Thanks in advance!

~Tim Elliot Turner

#9

A few good points were made in this thread. I can see we're going to need a
project list. LOL. The expert in this thread about writing for LibO,
documentation, etc is Jean. She has the experience coming from the
OpenOffice.org project. So for all the technical points and how to use the
templates already available I defer to her.

As for writing in general, it isn't that hard. You talk to your friends,
right? Well writing is just like talking to your friends. Talk to your
friends, they are your audience. Type up your conversation as you are having
it. Afterwards, when it is finished, go over it again. Correct the typos,
spelling errors and grammar. Delete the expletives. Now ask yourself, "Does
it still make sense?; Does it still flow?; Does it sound like you?; Do you
want your name associated with this? That's writing. Marketing is another
matter altogether. Marketing is knowing who you are speaking to.

I would prefer not to create assignments; you write about this, I'll write
about that, and they can write about the other thing. If there is a part
about LibreOffice that you use alot, a little thing that you had to figure
out how to do that you may do differently in other office suites, write
about that. Write about something that you do, that interests you. The good
thing about blog posts is, they don't have to be long. A paragraph or two
can suffice. OH, there I go again. Suffice, a perfectly good word but is it
appropriate. Always keep an eye to marketing. We still haven't figured out
our audience on the blog. We have few posts and only spam comments so far.

I agree it might be good to have blog posts listed in the social media. That
is good but not good enough. The people that follow TheDocumentFoundation
and LibreOffice on Twitter and Facebook are the choir. They already know
about us and probably use LibreOffice. We need to get the word out to the
general public. Post about our new blog posts on our own social media pages.
That will increase our visibility.

*John Shabanowitz
http://libodocs.wordpress.com
We're recruiting, come join us.*

#10

Your last point makes a lot of sense, John. The people following those feeds
are the choir, which is why we need to encourage them with something to sing
about. If the information is already posted then all they have to do is
press a button to RT or share that information. That going to really help
visibility Like Jean already said, this is something for marketing. If I see
that they haven't started it up once the blog gets going, I'll mention it in
the mailing list.

And thanks for the tips on getting the information down for a post. I'll
definitely keep them in mind when I'm ready to start writing. I'm glad that
there are so many experienced people already established here. It makes it
all seem much less daunting.

~Elliot

#11

Thanks, John. My experience and primary area of activity is with the
user guides. Blogging is a bit different, as it allows more of a
"personal voice" by the writer. You've described the blog writing style
very well.

We try to use a standard writing style in the user guides, but for a
blog entry there's a lot more leeway, including which variation of
English (US, UK, other) a writer feels most comfortable using.

And I agree completely with your final paragraph. Readers of the blog
(including others on this team) can use the share links (for Facebook
and Twitter) to spread the word outside "official" channels, or share in
other ways. BTW, we can add share buttons for other social media
networks.

--Jean

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