Initial proposal for social media working group.

[sarahboyce]

I will try to gather who is interested in joining the group via emailing out on the DSF mailing list.

• After this is approved, in the next DSF board meeting, members of the board self-nominate to be the Board Liaison for this group and the board votes.
• The Board Liaison can agree on who will be on the team from the interested DSF members.
• [email protected] email is created and the Board Liaison has access.
• The private channel for communication is created.

[thibaudcolas]

Woo! Thanks for giving this a go @sarahboyce. We’ve discussed this briefly last week in the DSF board’s chat and it seemed clear this kind of proposal was the next step for this specific group.

cc @jacobian and @jcjudkins who expressed an interest in #3

The Board Liaison picks a team

Would you want to join? Is there anyone whom you’ve discussed this with that would be interested?

---

Is anyone aware of who might be handling Django’s social media landscape currently, to approach them about joining this group?

I’m aware of:

• https://twitter.com/djangoproject
• https://fosstodon.org/@django
• https://www.reddit.com/r/django/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/django-software-foundation/mycompany/

[sarahboyce]

Would you want to join? Is there anyone whom you’ve discussed this with that would be interested?

Yes, I'm happy to apply!
I don't know who else might be interested. I think it would be good to announce and have a call for volunteers because having a diverse group with different community experiences would be better for telling Django's story.

[thibaudcolas]

Looking great! I have suggested changes but personally I’m happy with the proposal as-is.

The more substantive addition I would recommend giving thought to is:

Members join the group for a 6-month term. At the end of this term, they need to opt into staying involve to keep being a member of the group.

[benjaoming]

I have been missing this SO much, what a wonderful initiative 😍 When we opened the Fosstodon account as an unofficial account (with intention to transfer ownership), we didn't engage. But I can only say from experience of looking at our notifications on Fosstodon that the potential to engage and grow the audience is BIG.

[benjaoming]

I wonder if there are established guidelines for this one already? 🤔

[adamchainz]

“on djangoproject.com” is vague - does this mean the blog, or somewhere else on the site?

Also, the blog is a different kind of channel as posts have a specific individual author, rather than “Django”.

[sarahboyce]

I have decided to remove it, I can't immediately see a need for doing a post here, so might not be required.

[thibaudcolas]

I don’t feel strongly about this but would recommend adding this back, focused on the blog. From experience, when doing multi-channel promotions it’s really useful if all the channels can point to one shared resource (so a blog post in this context). I also suspect Django blog posts directly contribute to the project’s presence in "social" channels due to the RSS feed (for example Discord).

If you disagree, we can mark this as Resolved again and move on :)

[jcjudkins]

I like this as well! I would love to join in! @sarahboyce @thibaudcolas

[adamchainz]

“on djangoproject.com” is vague - does this mean the blog, or somewhere else on the site?

Also, the blog is a different kind of channel as posts have a specific individual author, rather than “Django”.

[DevilsAutumn]

Not sure if I have demonstrable experience with social media platforms but definitely have some ideas. 😅
Would be happy to join !

[thibaudcolas]

@benjaoming great to have your thoughts on this :) Could you say more about your Fosstodon experience running that account? Perhaps share this pull request to that account’s audience?

I believe there was a dsf-members thread about this not too long ago – is there a public version of that we can share with people interested in the working group, who might not currently be DSF members?

[benjaoming]

@benjaoming great to have your thoughts on this :) Could you say more about your Fosstodon experience running that account?

To summarize my thoughts: The Fosstodon account can benefit from being run by a dedicated and delegated working group. Important experience will be gathered (I guess DSF barely has any since it's only been using automated posting since joining Twitter?). The audience will grow, and I think that a lot of the energy and excitement that's currently contained within DSF circles can be shared and ultimately engage more active community ❤️ 🌱

**Non-summarized thoughts**

After a trial (since Nov '22) of running the Fosstodon account as an unofficial account, it's now been the official account since May '23, meaning that a few DSF delegates have access to it (ops & secretary). Just like the ex-Twitter account, it's only posting the same things that are shared on the News section of djangoproject.com: https://fosstodon.org/@django

Starting off 1 year ago with 0 followers, it now has 1.2k followers (181k on ex-Twitter). In comparison, the Linux Foundation has 2k followers (500k on ex-Twitter).

Since the account was automated to post anything that goes into the RSS feed, most posts are just a simple headline and a link to the post. No extra work. The flipside is that the posts are rather dull, and most of them don't generate responses, neither on ex-Twitter nor in the Fediverse. You can say that Django's social media strategy is to rely on its community to have a social media presence, and that actually works very well -- and in another way, it maintains Django as a somewhat well-kept secret and exclusive Framework that's too cool to do conventional emoji-driven public engagement 😂 It'd definitely be an interesting discussion topic in a working group: What style of communication fits DSF, and what style of communication fits a Fediverse target community.

If the @[email protected] account did a bit of content that's easily shareable (like an #introduction), then I think it'd quickly get more followers.

With 32k followers, Thunderbird's account is the one I'd look to for inspiration: https://mastodon.online/@thunderbird

In the first 6 months, me and @pauloxnet were running @[email protected] as the unofficial account, but we've never taken initiative to post anything since we wanted it to transition and not to go out and misrepresent DSF. So we also didn't learn much :) I started noticing people responding to posts, expecting that there would be a response back. Luckily, many other active community members and Fediverse members have been aware and "taken over" when @[email protected] didn't respond. And by now, I think that most followers are aware that there isn't a response, so the conversation has started taking place around quote-posts (a non-feature of the Fediverse that works in many clients). Having this presence to like and reply is definitely the first thing that I'd look forward to seeing the working group solve.

The Fediverse works differently from being run by a social media algorithm that measures engagement (or in deadbird's case, paying for a blue tick or buying ads). So in order to generate attention or discovery in the Fediverse, there are hashtags (we definitely should be using #django!) and a heavy reliance on people engaging - every response can mean that the post will show up in other people's feeds. The current profile makes use of none of it.... so the only time that automated posts will show up, is at the time that they are posted and in the rare occasion that someone replies to them.

Rewinding ⏪

At the bare minimum, Django has a predictable news stream contains something like this:

• New Django release announcements
• Django event announcements
• DSF fundraisers, board elections

All of these sort of repetitive communiques will benefit from a lively social media group that turns them into lively opportunities to engage. Not only on the Fediverse, but all other potential channels. People see the announcement of Django 5, we want to show excitement! We want the announcement to be shared! And when people ask questions or share feedback, we want to be able to receive this and show gratitude.

I'm not writing this as a critique for the News section headlines! I think that it's fantastic that we have a very straight-forward RSS feed. I love the cool look of having a single-sentence emoji-free announcement 🕶️

I could imagine a flow whereby News are posted on the blog, and the social media working group will formulate an engaging version of the headlines, sparking some more joy in the way that it's presenting. The group might also have access to edit meta data on the News blog (opengraph card image + description). This task can be solved efficiently in a uniform way where posts can be (nearly) copied across social media channels. Responding to comments, moderating etc. can be delegated per-person-per-platform.

I think that the proposal fits hand-in-glove with what is needed ⬆️

During the coming years, tools for ActivityPub will be developed in ways that can further improve these workflows, integrating website publication and social media presence. In that regard, it will also make sense to have a working group that can dedicate some time to understand and benefit from the new development.

THE END 🏁

[cgl]

I think the main goal of this WG is promoting Django over content management. I suggest to review the group’s scope as I think it is well aligned to be the marketing working group which have social media as one of its responsibilities.

[cgl]

Not sure if generating revenue is one of the goals of this WG.

[sarahboyce]

Re-phrased to:

Protect the framework's long-term viability through campaigns and sponsor relations.

I think this working group can and should help with supporting the success of funding or sponsor campaigns but yes, is not resposible for generating revenue. Let me know if you have a nice way to say this 😁

[thibaudcolas]

I think the new wording works well. It’s very common for non-profits to fundraise on social media these days, I imagine that’d work great for Django too.

[cgl]

🤔 This sounds more like a responsibility rather than goal.

[sarahboyce]

Tried to shift some things to the the 'Delegated responsibilities' section 👍

[hudy0]

I like this and I would love to join in
Thank you @sarahboyce

[sarahboyce]

I think the main goal of this WG is promoting Django over content management. I suggest to review the group’s scope as I think it is well aligned to be the marketing working group which have social media as one of its responsibilities.

@cgl do you think the working group should be called the marketing wg instead of social media wg?

[thibaudcolas]

🤘looking good! There’s one change I’d like to see, otherwise ready to approve.

As far as marketing vs. social media – I’d say both would make for great working groups and I’d like to join either. Marketing feels like a lot more work though, so considering this "social media" proposal is quite well defined, I’d much rather we proceed with this for now.

---

In addition to my specific suggestions – could we have a list of 5-10 practical examples of what the group might do, either at the end of the proposal or in the PR description? I think this will help further reviews in understanding the opportunities & challenges here, possible things this group could help with in the past and future.

For example based on the experience of @benjaoming with the Mastodon account: #6 (comment)

[thibaudcolas]

Could this be done with Google Forms rather than email? The emails I receive from public DSF foundation@ address are 80% spam. Using a form would also help in communicating what information we expect from new members.

If so, the form would be set up under the DSF’s Google Workspace, all entries would go in a spreadsheet, the group would review entries as they come in just like over email.

[sarahboyce]

Sure good point 👍

Note: this (or something else) could become standard for all working groups. We can have a list of working groups and an application form for each on the website and the group only needs to define the questions. It will be easier for people to form working groups when we have some defined as "standard"

[thibaudcolas]

We have an upcoming board meeting next week on Thursday – @sarahboyce could you identify a Chair and Co-Chair by then, so I can take this to the meeting as a fully-formed proposal? I would like to volunteer as Board Liaison. I suspect we won’t need to have "Other members" filled in for the proposal to be valid.

For other people interested in joining – I think it’ll probably help if we already fill in the expected application details as per Sarah’s proposal.

Specifically eligibility:

Members must have demonstrable experience with social media platforms, and be registered as a Django Software Foundation Individual Member.

And application details:

## Why I want to join

## What experience and skills I bring to the role

## Links to social media profile

[sarahboyce]

I like this and I would love to join in Thank you @sarahboyce

Hi thank you @hudaifa-saleh ❤️ I couldn't spot your name on the DSF Member list. There is a form to join on that page if you would like to be a part of that group 👍

[thibaudcolas]

Looking great :)

Thinking ahead a bit, here’s my application to join the group, as well as a few notes based on my awareness of how different "Django" social media spaces operate currently.

[thibaudcolas]

👋 just noting that this proposal is now complete as far as I can see, per the requirements listed in the Proposing a working group. As Board Liaison I’ve notified the board that it was ready for review yesterday, and added it to the agenda for our next board meeting this Thursday.

Thank you @sarahboyce for taking this through ❤️ as far as I know this is the first working group proposal ever, which I can imagine took quite a bit of work to put together and refine based on everyone’s feedback.

[thibaudcolas]

The board has voted on this proposal in the January board meeting – and unanimously approved! 🎉

Congratulations @benjaoming @DevilsAutumn @thibaudcolas @czue @jcjudkins @sarahboyce :)

• @ckirby will be setting up the group in the DSF’s google admin
• @thibaudcolas will be coordinating access to social media accounts

From there it’s for the group to take ownership as per the approved charter :) Go go go!