My blogging frequency has dropped off here at dbvt.com\blog a bit, but I've been secretly serving as an undercover blogger the last couple of months for the Windows app I've been working on, Project Streams. It's been an interesting trip, blogging as the Project Lead for marketing purposes as opposed to blogging for pleasure here.
The Project Streams site is Community Server 1.1 with Forums, Blog and Photos (Screenshots) enabled. CS serves beautifully as a product marketing site, though marketing is not the word I like to use to describe what I'm doing. My goal for the Project Streams site is to create community around an application and build relationships.
The Project Streams blog focuses on the application with the hope of generating a bit of buzz and interest. Above all, I'd like to think I'm having a conversation. I know I have to be completely truthful and honest when discussing the product, since as Seth Godin would say, you can't have a conversation unless you're being truthful. But I am trying to sell something, after all, so I have to watch what I say. I may want to say something like, "the new feature works great--to my complete amazement, since I don't know what the hell I'm doing..." but instead I simply describe the feature to drive attention back to the product. I'll figure out what the hell I'm doing later.
As for other CS site areas, I've been treating the Forums area as a reference area for stickier information like feature descriptions, how-to's, scheduling info and so forth. The blog is for the conversation to take place, describing the experience of building Project Streams, and for relationship-building. The CS Image Gallery is used exclusively for Screenshots.
I've been working hard to provide regular content to the Project Streams blog and site, since the vitality of the site is a direct reflection on the vitality of the product. I've been pretty pleased with the views and subscription counts so far. They may be low, but they're not zer-ro. Getting an unexpected Project Streams reference in a Mike Gunderloy Daily Grind certainly helped get things moving. I am surprised by the relatively high screenshot views. Definitely of interest to visitors.
Why would someone want to subscribe to a blog where I'm hawking some Windows app? Hmm, well, I try to make it interesting, at least provide lots of detail. Developers may find the evolution of an application interesting, as well as its origins and how the specs change along the way. I honestly don't know where this product is going, whether we go open source down the road after reaching critical mass or keeping it proprietary, so issues like that which will come up are going to be interesting to document and discuss.
One of the primary motivations for me with the site--other than the marketing aspects--is that I believe in the application and am excited about where it might lead. I think we're on the right track, and a differentiated one at that. Project Streams focuses on the richness of Windows and The Desktop. You don't hear much about that architecture anymore. Being connected (and disconnected) is just a function. But hey, I'll save the soapbox for the Project Streams blog.
The posts below give you an idea of the things I've been blogging about over the last couple of months. My undercover posts, as it were.
Sharepoint Resource setup with the Project Admin Wizard - November 02
Admin Project Resources Setup Wizard - November 01
Administrative Menu First Look - November 01
Project Streams buzz phrase - October 31
Project Entry Wizard - October 28
New Project Streams Forum Posts - October 19
First Look at Web Wizards in PSW - October 19
Whence the Blog Tab? - October 14
Major Sharepoint Services Restructuring - October 13
Resource double-click brings SharePoint Bliss - October 08
End-of-week Project Streams report on Resources - October 08
Googling back to Windows Forms - October 05
Web Forms and Windows Forms Harmony - October 03
Centralized Streams News and Alerts - September 30
The Role of Outlook Contacts in Project Streams - September 28
Looking forward to the addition of Office Applications - September 28
Thoughts on Sharepoint Document descriptions - September 26
Code Camp 4 Presentation PowerPoint - September 22
Project Streams Preview at Code Camp 4: Developers Gone Wild! - September 20
Going Visual with Project Streams - September 20
Welcome to the Project Streams Blog - September 19 - 1 Comments