Social Media Platforms

Study of what others are doing:

Lulzbot, 3/15

From Harris, community manager - Hmm that makes sense, thanks for sharing your experience. We have considered alternative social media networks like Tsu, Diaspora, and GNU Social but are only using the standard ones (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube) for now.

The new networks don't have the scale (yet), and we haven't had people us to use the new networks, so it's more self-directed interest on our part than anything else.

We are explicitly not using Instagram because accounts cannot be accessed using a Free Software, such as GNU/Linux or F-Droid (Instagram requires mobile application on iOS or Android). We like YouTube because it allows us to upload video files using webm format rather than mpg.

We are using HootSuite as a management tool for all the accounts. It's not Free Software but does help keep things organized. We use ThinkUp for feedback, which is Free Software (GPL), but it's limited in its usefulness for our purposes. It's worth checking out if you're interested.

We want to start getting more into analytics of social engagement to see what's working (and what's not). We use PIWIK on our website but it does not cover behavior of users on the social media networks themselves.

Anyhow, sorry that's just a long brainstorm email :) Keep up the awesome work at OSE! If we add a new network it would be GNU Social, and if we do I will let you know how it goes.