November 6, 2008

build your movement here

At MozCamp Europe, where I met many members of the Firefox community, it became clear to me that Mozilla hasn’t just built a product…it has built a movement. I wonder if the next step is to help others build theirs.

LinkedIn recently created a suite of applications to enable its users to have a stronger professional web presence. The question is whether Mozilla should create a similar suite of applications to strengthen web capabilities for movements and if so, what kinds of tools should be included in the suite?

Movement Pic

My sense is that developing a “Movement Suite” makes sense for three reasons. First, in recent weeks, we have started to think hard about how to engage a broader public.  One clear way to accomplish this is to support a long tail of missions that need to leverage the web to accomplish their goals. Second, Firefox-based movements would organically attract and retain new people to the user community. Third, making the web a better tool for social good aligns with Mozilla’s overall mission to make the web a healthier place.

If we agree that this makes sense, then let’s think about the type of tools a Movement Suite would include.  Atul Varma and I brainstormed about this for a bit and developed some initial thoughts:

1. A mass-mailing tool for email campaigns. For example, a Mail Chimp type tool to help movements design compelling emails and distribute them at scale.

2. A discussion tool to promote ideas and encourage discussion. Atul pointed out that of the 15 candidates that recently for the San Francisco Board of Education, only 7 of them set up websites, and only 1 of those 7 had a campaign blog.

3. A concept sharing tool to help collaborate on vision. For example, LinkedIn included Slide Share in their application suite and we could consider including a similar tool.

Those are just some initial thoughts and this list needs expansion. If you wanted to start a new movement today, what types of tools would you need to get it off the ground quickly?

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November 5, 2008

The world is inundated with posts about what an incredible moment this is for our country, so I won’t attempt to add any distinction to the narrative. Instead, I’m going out to celebrate. All too often, I find myself out-articulated by people younger than me. This is no exception:

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October 19, 2008

A Fine Balance

Mozilla is a culture of balance. Every day, the people here collaborate to strike a balance between growth and patience; between innovating and quickly following; between scale and perfection; between chaos and order; and between mission and sustainability.

I began a career with Mozilla three weeks ago and find myself thinking back to the first time a friend told me about Mozilla. It was November 2004 and I had just wrapped up 10 months of hard, but failed, campaigning to bring change to the Oval Office.

From an internet café in Bombay – and in a self-righteous state of mind - I IM’d a friend: “I worry that people don’t question the status quo”, to which he responded: “you should check out the dudes at Firefox”. 

It means a lot to be here, and my goals are pretty clear: 1) help move Mozilla’s mission forward in a meaningful way, 2) be a strong operator, and 3) do my best not to disrupt the balance.

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This is my first post, and I’ll be trying to share thoughts as often as possible. My hope is that you’ll consider them, and tell me why you agree or disagree.

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