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Today we reached an exciting milestone:  surpassing 1 million fans on our Facebook fan page!

It was about one year ago that we began dedicating resources towards optimizing our page, and building a better engagement channel with our community on Facebook.  We’ve come a long way since then… increasing our fan base by over 639,400 (~177%), and experiencing daily growth rates of 5,000-6,000 (and as high as 34,600+) since Jan of 2010.

These are huge achievements, and all due to various important factors – most notably the redesigned First Run/What’s New pages which highlight our Firefox fan page and were pushed with the recent 3.6 major update.  The click-traffic generated by these pages, combined with the organic/viral distribution of content on Facebook has led to an accelerated growth rate, and unprecedented spikes, which can be seen on the graphs below.  But these numbers alone don’t define our success, and in the coming weeks I’ll be writing more about our social media strategy with Facebook…  diving deeper to talk about how we got here, our learnings so far, and plans moving forward.  For now though, I simply wanted to share this bit of exciting news with everyone, and to say congratulations [enter massive applause]. Here’s to another million!

One of the most rewarding aspects of Mozilla is, of course, the amazing community that we’re all a part of.  A community with such passion and creative energy that often surfaces in ways that leave us pleasantly surprised.

A short while ago I met William Blanc Dit Jolicoeur, from Paris, after having stumbled upon his Firefox Song.  That’s right, a song about Firefox!  And a particularly good one, too.  A soothing bossa nova melody strummed on the guitar, with lyrics that spoke of classic Firefox features… composed over two years ago and posted more recently on our Facebook fan page.  I was thrilled to see this… intrigued, and curious to learn more.

As it turns out, William is a long time Firefox user and fan (going as far back as the days of Firebird, circa 2003). Web developer by day… singer, song-writer, and ukulele player by night. Indeed, he is the same enthusiastic ukulele player featured on our Fastest Firefox compilation video. And I wanted to (belatedly) shine the spotlight on him, and share his video, uncut, for all to enjoy.

William, who also goes by the nickname Azurams (inspired by the French comic series Asterix the Gaul), has been playing for many years now and hopes to perform in local bars around Paris later this year. He is also an active member of the French ukulele community, which is pretty darn awesome.  If you’re lucky, you might catch him adding a live soundtrack to your train ride (TGV) from Paris to Lyon… or spreading good cheer at a picnic jam session in the park. And if you happen to be attending MozCamp EU this weekend in Prague, make sure to say hello! William and his trusty ukulele will both be there.

Thanks again William for lending your musical talents to us. Hope to see more great things from you, soon!

(Make sure to also check out his Youtube Channel for more.)

We recently released 20 new digital gifts into the Facebook ecosystem.  These cute little icons are part of the  Mozilla Firefox collection that launched last year through the Free Gifts application – conceived by Zach Allia and later transitioned over to SGN.  Exchanging digital gifts has long been a popular activity on social networks, and thousands of Firefox gifts have been sent so far.  If you’re interested, the total numbers per icon are reported on a basic stats page, here (Foxkeh is #1, with over 8,000 gifts sent).  Thanks to Shervin Pishevar, Chris Henley, and Gabriel Stock from SGN for their help on this.  Happy gifting!

Firefox 3.5 is finally here! And what better way to celebrate the launch than with the brand new 3.5 t-shirt. We had a lot of fun last year with an open call for designs that led us to the official Firefox 3 shirt.  But this time around, we tried something different.  Inspired by the concept of a tag cloud, we turned to the community for help in coming up with a collection of words that best described Firefox.  We then used these words to create a stylized typographic visualization of what Firefox 3.5 is all about – highlighting some of the key features and goodness that’s baked into the browser.

The final design is not only awesome (and among my favorites), but also a unique addition to our t-shirt archive, which continues to grow as it captures snapshots in Mozilla’s history.  Special thanks to Monique Johnson, for lending her artistic talents to us once again and creating this beautiful word cloud.

The new Firefox 3.5 t-shirts are now available in the Mozilla Stores, professionally modeled and photographed by members of our very own team.  You can also download this design in different sizes as a desktop wallpaper.  Enjoy!

** Paris, Toronto, MV, Tokyo and China offices…looking good!  Silverorange has joined the fun, too.

In last month’s workshop series, Mary and I talked about the power of social media, and how it has helped us drive major initiatives (like Download Day) with incredible reach and impact.  There’s a plethora of social media tools out there, which include social networking sites, social news sites, photo and video sharing sites, blogs, etc.  At Mozilla, we actively use a subset of these tools to stay connected with our community and raise awareness around the projects that we work on.  With the upcoming release of Firefox 3.5, we hope to leverage social media once again to drum up excitement and celebrate the launch.  Here are some ways you can help:

• Update your status (or tweet) during the run up to, and day of, launch.  Promote ongoing campaigns like Fastest Firefox, or 3.5 in 35 days.  Highlight your favorite features and let everyone know when you upgrade.  For Twitter and Identi.ca, please use the hashtag: #fx35
• “Donate” your profile image, or avatar by temporarily replacing it with the Firefox logo.
• Create an event, a download-fest or party in support of the launch.
• Post pictures and videos from related activities using the tags “fx35″ & “Spread Firefox”.
• Blog!  Spread the word, and add some flair to your site with an affiliate button.
• Drive up Firefox related news stories on Digg or Reddit.

If you’re on Facebook, you can also:

• Become a fan of our Page and suggest it to your friends.
• Send a personalized digital gift.  We’ve added 20 new icons to our collection.
• Share articles, photos, and videos on your wall and across the stream.
• Help content become viral with “likes” and comments.  The more you engage, the faster it spreads.

So, regardless of what social media tool you use, there are *lots* of great ways to help generate buzz and get the word out about 3.5.  Remember that even a simple status update has the potential to spark conversations and inspire action.  I also wanted to mention that while we currently have a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Orkut… we recognize the diversity of tools available across the world, and would appreciate your help in identifying the key players in your respective regions by posting them, here. (Thanks!)

Last month I hosted a Creative Workshop to help mobilize the 3.5 community launch team. The slides and video have been archived for your reference.  As you know, creative arts and graphic design are extremely powerful forms of communication.  Often times they are more effective than words alone, and can even break down language barriers to reach a larger audience.

With that in mind, we’re fortunate to have such a passionate community and creative energy around the Firefox brand – which over time, has resulted in some pretty amazing stuff.  From beautifully painted buses in India, to Firefox cookies, cakes, and my personal favorite…a Firefox pillow!  And lets not forget the 2000+ t-shirt design submissions from last year’s contest.

It’s time to tap into your creative skills again, and help promote the launch of 3.5.  A great way to do that is by creating new designs for the Community Store.  Here’s a quick summary of the guidelines to get you started:

• You may choose from a variety of SVG software or raster-based tools – Including Adobe suites and free/open-source alternatives like Inkspace and GIMP.
• Be as creative and abstract as you wish!  Take inspiration from broader concepts like community and open-source, or specific features of Firefox 3.5, like open video, speed, security, and more.
• If using the Firefox logo, please follow the style guidelines and trademark policies.
• Remove any element that you don’t want printed, including the background color layer.
• Save your final file in high resolution transparent PNG format.
• Upload your designs.  Make sure to provide your name for attribution and add descriptive tags.
• Designs are displayed in a public gallery and can be customized on different shirt styles for purchase.

If t-shirts don’t get you excited, feel free to express your creativity in other ways.  But whether it’s stitching, baking, singing, or planting a Firefox topiary (hint)… make sure to show it off by posting to Flickr or Youtube, using the tags “FX35″ & “Spread Firefox”.  We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Also, if you’re interested in learning more about design initiatives at Mozilla (like the Creative Collective), or our creative process… be sure to read John’s (and my) blog for the details.  You can also join the design mailing list, or follow our tweets for updates.

I’ve been meaning to start a blog for some time now. Having my thoughts and random musings permanently exposed to the masses is somewhat counterintuitive to my more private nature, but the potential to inspire or simply connect with a passing reader in distant corners of the world seems amazing to me. Like planting digital seeds and watching them grow through open communication and collaboration across the web.

Since joining Mozilla in January, I’ve been working on a variety of projects with a particular focus on product marketing and art direction. I will be sharing more information about these projects and our creative process, while encouraging participation whenever possible. We have a great team here with big aspirations and a growing level of excitement surrounding the upcoming release of Firefox 3. Through this blog I hope to provide a window into our marketing efforts here, and also some of my thoughts elsewhere.