508393 - Create Text links for Affiliates program

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Websites Graveyard :: spreadfirefox.com, defect)

Description

[Laura Mesa [:lmesa] [:lvmesa]]

Alex,

Can we please create text links for the Affiliates program so that people can post on emails/twitter/facebook and still get credit for those downloads?

Thanks!

Comment 1

[Paul Booker]

Hi Laura,

This sounds like a very interesting idea, would you mind expanding on how you see this working as i would also be interested to explore with possible ways of integrating  twitter / facebook et al with the affiliate module on D.o that i'm currently developing / maintaining for spreadthunderbird.

http://drupal.org/project/affiliates

Best, Paul

Comment 2

[Mary]

Hey there:  Trying to revive this idea as well.  Sent a note to Morgamic and Buchanan about it -- no response :(  I'd really like to use this to drive Betas.  Here was my thinking:

Do a slimmed down version of Affiliates that would allow people to create a URL they could share via email, Facebook, Identi.ca, Twitter, etc and earn points for downloads.

I was wondering if we could revive this idea but with a twist to drive beta downloads and reward community members for driving them:

* Create a short URL (are they're bit.ly or other shortening services with an open API that might allow for this?)
* Track beta and RC downloads

As background, Jane and Beltzner have been working on ways to build our beta testing community.

I'm looking for their thoughts on doability, timing and resources.   

Paul:  Thanks for bringing this up!

Comment 3

[Paul Booker]

This is fantastic idea Mary and very easy to implement.

I'll get to work on this tomorrow :-)

Best, 
Paul Booker
Appcoast

Comment 4

[Paul Booker]

Actually this needs a little more thinking / research time for me. Presently i'm more inclined to think that its better to link to affiliate products indirectly via a blog post, what do you think? 

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/10/11/8-tips-for-affiliate-marketers-on-using-twitter/

Best, 
Paul Booker
Appcoast

Comment 5

[Michael Morgan [:morgamic]]

We'll have to set up a meeting between Alex and Sam to hand this off.  We'll take care of this over the next week.

Comment 6

[Paul Booker]

Thanks Micheal

Comment 7

[Mary]

Hi all:  At last - we have this staged.  http://spreadfirefox.stage.mozilla.com/affiliates

I could use help testing out the following:

* Copy/Paste functionality.
* Authentication:  When you sign in is the text link different from when you're not signed in?
* Point tracking:  Not sure how to test this exactly - will need QA/Buchanan to chime in.
* General look/feel of the page + usability of directions.

Here is background on how the links work:

So, every time http://www.spreadfirefox.com/affiliates is viewed, a GET request to the bitly API is made to get the short URI for the current logged in user's affiliate link (ex: http://firefox.com?from=sfx&uid=1234&t=txtlink).  Once bitly creates a short code, they continue to return that same link. So for any given user, they will continue to see the same short link on the /affiliates page (unless any part of their link that we are sending to the bitly API changes (http://firefox.com?from=sfx&uid=1234&t=txtlink).  This is also true for non-logged in users who's link happens to be http://firefox.com?from=sfx&uid=0&t=txtlink.

Thanks!