I think that this is something to discuss. I really like the idea of current events, because it puts us right into the global conversation about an event, secures us (brand) as a news source and then we can fork eyeballs from that initial message towards other messages.

I think:

1.) If we do push current events we need an editorial policy. It's one thing to want big numbers of eyeballs, but we need to do it within a framework so that we can avoid problems. I think the NPOV and 'WMF doesn't control content' will be useful guidelines for this. 

2.) We should start slow and paced (maybe 1 post per week or day) and scale from there. There is a learning curve for our understanding and it would be good to not go too fast.

3.) Part of 'slow and paced' is also to think about region(s) and languages.

4.) Let the data drive what we publish, meaning Dario could point to the (insert superlative here) article and we could tailor the message around it. 

5.) After the data 'decides for us' we decide if we want our message to be a simple message like a tweet with a link to a WP article, or if it deserves more research and coverage like a blog post. I think that most messages will be simple tweets, but some may deserve more background, which we may have content for already or would be able to generate such content.

6.) Part of the editorial policy will be to decide if certain messages will be cut regardless of their traffic. I could imagine all kinds of scenarios where we wouldn't want to be pushing particular things.

7.) I'd say we should time the tweeting / messaging of current events to remind readers that they can edit  the projects, and point them to appropriate 'how to get started' guides. There are other appropriate ways to guide the eyeballs we grab - fundraising, meetups, etc.

Curious to hear other's thoughts.

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 6:24 PM, Dario Taraborelli <dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org> wrote:
oh, and the first edit was to the French Wikipedia, so it might be weird to link to the enwp article
 
On Jan 7, 2015, at 3:20 PM, Dario Taraborelli <dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org> wrote:

\o/

just note that as we speak there are articles in 37 languages 

On Jan 7, 2015, at 2:44 PM, Fabrice Florin <fflorin@wikimedia.org> wrote:

This looks good to me.

Note you’ll have to drop one character to make it fit on Twitter.

I also recommend using the same copy for FB and Google+ for now, in the interest of time.

In general, I support the idea of responding more often to news events like these, to make our content and movement more relevant to people’s daily lives. I hope we can make this happen both on social media and on the blog, going forward.

Kudos to Dario for this excellent suggestion!


Fabrice


On Jan 7, 2015, at 2:12 PM, Michael Guss <mguss@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello everyone,

Following up on this:


t: Wikipedia coverage of the #charliehebdo shooting is now available in 26 languages. First edit was 1h after the event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting



On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 2:01 PM, Jan Ainali <jan.ainali@wikimedia.se> wrote:
2015-01-07 22:57 GMT+01:00 Charles Gregory <wmau.lists@chuq.net>:

Jan - that URL gives an Application Error?

Yeah, today it seem to do that more than 90% of the times I try to load it (hence the comment on stability). 

/Jan


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