TLS and Social Networking

[Cthulhu]

st00pid, . Plenty of companies have a webcare team that apparently share a twitter account, then.

 

[Airling]

I did a quick google Octo, and I am almost sad to report that such things exist. I liked the idea of the "Octo Social Media Manager: Manage up to eight different social media accounts!".

 

[Lex]

I've looked into this, I can't find one that covers all the ones we need in a simple way. It's easy to link Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but not so much Tumblr. Also Google+. Which I don't think I've updated in over a year.

 

[Flintlock]

I think we could ditch G+. I still don't know anyone who uses it. And I will confess I just don't understand Tumblr. Not the site itself, but the culture. I wouldn't know how to engage anybody on there. I wouldn't be sad to see that go either, leaving us with just Facebook and Twitter. They seem like the important ones.

 

[Lex]

X-SOLDIER like lives on google +, he's one of those android-ey people.

Tumblr works like this:

Instead of "Shademp uncovers something about FFVII"

it's

"chECK YOUR PRIVILEGE AT THE DOOR cuz liek shademp found some new stuff in the game and it proves that the wrITERS HATE WOMEN"

Easy peasy.

 

[Tetsujin]

I kind of understand tumblr. It's where I live these days.

 

[Airling]

I've looked into this, I can't find one that covers all the ones we need in a simple way. It's easy to link Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but not so much Tumblr. Also Google+. Which I don't think I've updated in over a year.

So there's still space in the market for "Octo"?

Also, I second Flint's motion for ditching G+. I think X is the only one on there, and he's here enough to know what's going on. I don't think we'll draw very much new attention there, which is what social mediaz is for, yes?

 

[Geostigma]

So there's still space in the market for "Octo"?

Also, I second Flint's motion for ditching G+. I think X is the only one on there, and he's here enough to know what's going on. I don't think we'll draw very much new attention there, which is what social mediaz is for, yes?

Pretty much this. There's no reason to cover G+ if we arent willing to also make a Myspace or Xanga (yeah i went there) page as well.

It's not about covering all of our bases. Since we don't actually have a PR team to easily knock out every site in he world for us there is no point in trying due to being spread out to thin. Just focus on sites that actually have consistent traffic and well be fine.

I regards to pecking order for social media its definitely

Tier 1 : FB , Twitter , Instagram
Tier 2 : Reddit (takes teamwork though)
Tier 3 : Tumblr


Tumblr is an odd case. It's definitely active. It's just fucking weird though and I imagine it can be problematic.. Trying really hard to word this one nicely as I know some of you are fans of it

Also consider that what factors into the tier list is how the sites can be used to spread our content. They just generally have more robust or better share options in addition to the giant user base that makes them much more appealing and deserving of our time. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say since sharing stuff on sites like this seems like all you need to do is toss up a link or share and your done.. but thats not the case. There is definitely a certain degree to curation of the content and I personally prefer the Tier 1 list the most for that.

 

[Teioh]

In light of the news that we’re ready to release the first half of ‘Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography: TURKS - The Kids Are Alright’ I’m reminded again that our Tumblr account is really inactive. It hasn't been updated for over a year. If we're ever planning on reviving it I honestly can't think of a better time. I’ve personally nudged a few people from Tumblr this way just to read the Lateral Biography so I think it’s something other FFVII Tumblr users would be interested in. Or maybe, drop Tumblr altogether

Edit: Nevermind! I just saw The Lifestream & 2015 thread and saw Octo's post. Carry on, nothing to see here.

 

[Teioh]

I’ve spoken with Joe about this and am now posting here to announce that I would be happy to take over from danseru-kun and help run the TLS tumblr account.

I have already asked danseru-kun if it would be okay for me to take over and she has responded positively to the suggestion. She also has asked me to relay this message to you all:

Yes please! Tell everyone in TLS I’m sorry for abandoning it and not visiting the site anymore. I’ve been busy with personal fandom projects that I dropped some of the websites I visit. before I knew it I’ve never logged in for months and it has become too long. Thanks for filling up my shoes! I hope to post there again when I have time

I know there are a few people here who do not like tumblr and think that it lacks the community interaction that we wanted. And to some extent I agree with them.

Tumblr users lean more towards the graphics side of things. They are lovers of fanworks; fanart, fanfiction and rps. But they are not always opposed to discussion. I’ve seen some real interesting in-depth chats and believe that if an article was presented in the right way we may find we get a better response/interaction. I have been fiddling around with how to go about this but have come up with nothing more than just making the articles themselves more visually appealing when we post them on tumblr. So having someone who can make graphics, gifs and the like and also having someone who knows how to do the witty on the team would be a great boon.

I’ll probably start with sprucing up some of the pages, editing some of the text and maybe replacing some of the links on the main page with more current projects as well as something for the podcasts (may have to look into this some more because I’m not certain about how podcasts work on tumblr. A quick search shows them being uploaded as audio posts). For those who want to monitor site traffic, I checked and you can use Google Analytics with tumblr.

Honestly at the moment I think the whole blog needs a overhaul, starting with the name. I've just seen the Site name thread Flintlock has posted and it got me thinking about it. thelifestream.tumblr and the-lifestream.tumblr urls have already been taken. How do you feel about the_lifestream.tumblr? (Quick, change it before someone nabs it!)

 

[Lex]

Tumblr is good, I'm pleased someone is taking the reigns with it.

And yes I agree the entire thing needs a complete overhaul, particularly with how it's designed. Have you tried just "lifestream.tumblr"?

 

[Teioh]

Yes, I tried that one too. The owner of that url has a rather fetching image of a zebra's ass as their avatar

I'm not an expert on tumblr themes so I'll probably have to dig around for something that looks good. Which is why I think we need someone who is good with that kind of thing to join the team over there. I was thinking about waiting to see if there was any traction on the possible front page redesign and maybe try and find a theme similar to it. But I have no idea how long that'll take and the tumblr really does need a quick fix.

 

[Lex]

No, just fire ahead with the Tumblr. Don't worry about making them look similar, as long as you edit whatever theme you choose to our colour scheme I'm sure it'll be fine. Readability is the number one factor. I'm still in the process of getting the TLS stuff installed virtually, though I do plan to push ahead with the front page redesign as quickly as possible.

 

[Teioh]

Okay, I'll work on it as soon as I possibly can. Also found this theme which I like. The link bar is almost centre and I don't know, it's not a lot different from what we have right now. It just feels better to have the blog info on the left sandwiched between two images and with the page navigation right there. Those images aren't actually included in the code so I'll have to upload our own anyway and apparently all the colours are customisable so I should be able to change it into the TLS colours. The only problem I have with it right now is that the bottom left picture has a torn effect going on and I'm not sure if it'll go with an image I choose.

What is your opinion?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Holy shit, didn't notice the talk of tumblr here. Made a post about this in the other thread, click here.

 

[Cookie Monster]

You're running the show Teioh. If you want to use one of the accounts I snatched up, let me know, I'll send over the details.

 

[Fangu]

Teioh, Tumblr is easy to hack around with re: design. I can probably mess it up for you if you have specific requests. (What you can do with Tumblr Edit is sort of limited, which means I don't have to get into majjjor projecxxts to come up with something.) I'd have to get access to the account itself though. (AAA!)

 

[Teioh]

Thank you I actually like the thelifestreamblog.tumblr.com one you posted. I'll wait to see what the others have to say about it first but that's the one which is getting my vote.

Edit for Fangu

Teioh, Tumblr is easy to hack around with re: design. I can probably mess it up for you if you have specific requests. (What you can do with Tumblr Edit is sort of limited, which means I don't have to get into majjjor projecxxts to come up with something.) I'd have to get access to the account itself though. (AAA!)

That'll be great and I'm sure there will be no problem with you having access. I'll have a mess around with it first to see what I need but your help would be very much appreciated. Especially since you probably know all the colour codes

 

[Fangu]

That'll be great and I'm sure there will be no problem with you having access. I'll have a mess around with it first to see what I need but your help would be very much appreciated. Especially since you probably know all the colour codes

There are cheat sheets for that

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_colorpicker.asp
http://www.ascii-code.com/html-color-names.php
http://www.hexcolortool.com/

etc.
(Not to mention GIMP, Photoshop... be sure to use a good monitor though, that's the most important thing!)

Yeah, that's my preferred approach, the best is when people want to learn and rather ask when they need help - you can always PM me if you need pointers

 

[Teioh]

I've started messing around with the tumblr today but thought I'd better get the Famitsu translation out. Take a look at my terrible design skills. Still need an image for the top left and of course more pages to add to the linkbar. I'm laughing because a friend posted the link to the article before I could and has gotten notes/reblogs and the post I made has zero

 

[Lex]

It's shaping up nicely, good job. You could probably just use the first half of the site banner for the top left image.

 

[Teioh]

I've got someone who would love to join the The Lifestream tumblr team and probably take over the graphics on it. After a word with Joe, and on his advice, I have asked them to sign up here so you can all get to know them before a decision is made. Even if it's just contributing a graphic here and there, they'd be happy to lend us a hand. This person is 1st Class Soldier so if you have any questions for them or would like to get to know them better then please, fire away.

And now for a totally unbiased opinion, cough, I love their Final Fantasy graphics and edits that they've posted on tumblr. And they so happen to be the person I mentioned in my last post so they were already spreading The Lifestream articles before they were even a member here

 

[Ⓐaron]

Seems fine to me.

 

[1st Class Soldier]

Hi, I would first like to thank you for even considering me. You'd probably like to know more about me so here I go. My name is Laci, I'm twenty-two, and I'm a college student. I'm working on my degrees for Organizational Management and Marketing. I don't know if this is useful info but I do hold a 4.0 GPA overall for both my degrees. I also have an internship at a non-profit organization that helps young teen girls. What I do there is work on their newsletter, help reinvent events that seem outdated, and help come up with new projects.

Back tracking to my high school days, I was in web design for three years, and I learned graphic design as well. In my senior year, I was lead graphic designer for real companies in our area. For each project, I deigned the layout of the website, and all the graphics with it. I also became Adobe Certified in Photoshop and Dreamweaver. After I graduated high school, I became a freelance graphic designer. I designed things from logos to wedding invitations.

You're probably wondering why I stopped? I stopped because it was no longer a passion and because the town I lived in was small, the demand was high. I couldn't focus on my school work; I was simply running on empty. I now just edit for fun on Tumblr where there is no pressure.

I do want to bring this up, I'm heavily cloti but I know that my opinions don't matter when it comes to professional works. I would never use your platform for my own agenda or to express my opinions. I also want to say I have my own cloti forum that I am trying to get off the ground. I want to be honest with you about everything so you have all the facts and can make a clear decision. I admit, I'm very honest about my feelings towards the LTD and everyone in FFVII Fanbase on Tumblr knows that. You may or may not care but I just want to be honest with all of you. I know and get there's WAY more to FFVII than some silly LTD. If you want to look at my Tumblr, I'll be happy to link it!

Again, thank you for considering me and giving me a chance to see if I'm a good fit. I really enjoy your site. It's actually what brought me back to the FF Fandom, so no matter what I'll always be a fan of this website!

Thank you so much!
Laci

 

[Lex]

Never hurts to have another designer around

First of all, welcome to the forums (again, since I said this in your intro thread earlier). All help is good help and we do this for fun, so you don't have to feel like this is a job interview (although I appreciate you approaching it as such). You're welcome to contribute if you like, and I'll leave the decision with Joe/ Teioh as to which capacity that is.

What I will say is, stick around and get to know us all, because tbh we could use some extra web design help with the front site in the future as well as the tumblr.

Also you're free to discuss the LTD in the LTD thread if you so desire, but be warned that it's closely monitored so things don't get out of hand (and we kind of all hate the thread XD). Cloti and Clerith alike are welcome here, just don't bring in any off-forum shipper drama

<3