Re: [libreoffice-website] Re: Promoting RCs on Facebook

On 16/03/12 20:15, webmaster for Kracked Press Productions wrote:
> Do we really want to advertise RCs on Facebook or Twitter?

I already do this for the Norwegian versions. My followers have told me that
they want news about more than stable releases, so I give them that.

> I know that advertising the regular releases vis social networks would
> be a good idea, but having people comment about issues with RCs on the
> social networks might confuse people.

This works very well, and people expect us to be on social media services.
If you promote Ask LibreOffice and the simplified Bugzilla frontend as
well, the ranting shouldn't be a problem. I also have a contact form on
the Norwegian website for such reasons, which people use quite frequently.

> I rarely use the social networks.  I signed up and I get "friend"
> requests from people wanting to sell me things or people that I have
> nothing in common with, including the language we speak.  Then there are
> people who want me to be with their fan-club type of groups.  Sorry, I
> do not have time for these people.

With the rise of LibreOffice Online, the iOS and Android ports, these
medias are more important than ever before. If you want awareness,
contributors, and supporters, you also have to deal with some spam from
time to time.

> To be honest, having good word-of-mouth about LibreOffice is always
> good, but I really do not know how many people out there on these social
> networks would know the difference between a RC version and a
> "finalized" version.

Even the most technology impaired people get it if you formulate it
correctly.

> Then there is the potential issue of 3.5.1 being recommended over 3.4.5
> on the web page download system.  I personally would not recommend
> 3.5.0, and now 3.5.1 for business and enterprise users.  I do not think
> with all the problems with this new line, we want to recommend 3.5.0/1
> for ALL users.

Most users are conservative, but telling them it's an new generation might
not be the worst idea.

> That is another thing that confused a business man who was going to
> download a new version of LO.  He had 3.4.4 and hear that there was a
> new version out and downloaded 3.5.0.  He should have download 3.4.5 for
> his business computers.  He really was turned off by the problems with
> 3.5.0.

Clearly something for marketing to take care of. I agree on this matter,
and the download page should reflect this fact.

> That same type of negative user response could happen with people seeing
> problems and issues with RC version of the package on the social networks.
>
> IF you have it there, you must make it clear that LO RC-1-3.5.2 or 
> RC-1-3.4.6 is a release candidate being tested for errors/issues and not
> the normal release.

This why it bears the RC mark in the first place. And this is why rebuilding
the packages for the stable release are so important, as they can't have any
references to the release clients. The same goes for the feature pages …

> Well that is my opinion.

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