Open Bug 785342 Opened 13 years ago Updated 8 years ago

Implement feed statistics for Mozilla Hacks

Categories

(Developer Engagement :: Mozilla Hacks, task, P2)

Product:
Developer Engagement
Component:
Mozilla Hacks
Platform:
x86
macOS
Type:
task

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: robert, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Whiteboard: [type:feature])

I'd like to install Feedburner or similar for Mozilla Hacks, to be able to track and have metrics for how many people subscribe to and interact with the feed. As we all know, most people reading a feed don't go to the web site, so it would be a great complement to regular web site statistics.
Component: Website → hacks.mozilla.org
Product: Mozilla Developer Network → Websites
Depends on: 807490
From what I understand, FeedBurner has been deprecated (or at least they've stopped updating it). I've also not found it of much use. This WP plugin looks decent: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedstats-de/
"On May 26, 2011, Google announced that the FeedBurner APIs would be deprecated, leaving the long-term availability of an API for FeedBurner uncertain.[9] API Shutdown date announced on Google Developers Blog as October 20th 2012. https://developers.google.com/feedburner/ [10] On September 28, 2012, Google announced it was retiring AdSense for Feeds on October 2, 2012 and shuts it down on December 3, 2012.[11] Google says Feedburner will stay." It appears the API is deprecated and not the service itself, but it could be a matter of time. More info: http://www.blogher.com/using-feedburner-time-look-alternatives http://threads.scripting.com/8312ByDw/theFutureOfFeedburner http://www.nevillehobson.com/2012/09/09/prepare-for-goodbye-feedburner-in-october-2012/ Here is a WordPress alternative: http://perishablepress.com/simple-feed-stats/
Regarding Feedburner: it's not a necessity for me. Whichever solutions works. What I need to know is: - Amount of subscribers to the feed - If possible: - Their geographic location - Which posts they go to/click on
Robert: There is more likely apache logs on HTTP requests to https://hacks.mozilla.org/feed/. Those logs could be parsed and turned into a report that could be aggregated to a geographic region. Knowing what posts would be difficult given that the refer would be blank from an apache log perspective without a took like Feedburner. Robert: Outside of reporting RSS feed subscriptions to the Engagement team, what are you going to do differently with the website or engagement activities if you have these numbers? Craig/Ben: Can we try: http://perishablepress.com/simple-feed-stats/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedstats-de/ on a dev instance of WordPress so that Robert can review it from admin perspective?
(In reply to Chris More [:cmore] from comment #4) > Robert: There is more likely apache logs on HTTP requests to > https://hacks.mozilla.org/feed/. Those logs could be parsed and turned into > a report that could be aggregated to a geographic region. Knowing what posts > would be difficult given that the refer would be blank from an apache log > perspective without a took like Feedburner. Doing the log thing for amount of readers work, but knowing which posts/pages they actually visit from the RSS feed would be really useful as well. > Robert: Outside of reporting RSS feed subscriptions to the Engagement team, > what are you going to do differently with the website or engagement > activities if you have these numbers? First, I need to know how many RSS subscribers there are. To be able to report it, but also see trends in if we get more/lose subscribers. Then I want to evaluate which posts are popular, and cross-reference both that and the total number of subscribers to the Google Analytics statistics.
Is there a dev instance of the hacks blog? if so I can request access and see if I can get this installed for you (so craig does not have to worry about this). After that if it passes muster we will request a security review and go from there. I would suggest we go with: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedstats-de/ It is much simpler and contains a much smaller feature set (that we wont miss). So that being said a few things I need from robert: 1. Can you advise if there is a dev instance of the hacks blog and who I should talk to about access? 2. Please review http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedstats-de/ and see if this is sufficient or if we should look elsewhere.
Flags: needinfo?(robert)
(In reply to Ben (:bensternthal) from comment #6) > So that being said a few things I need from robert: > > 1. Can you advise if there is a dev instance of the hacks blog and who I > should talk to about access? What Craig said in Comment 7. > 2. Please review http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedstats-de/ and see > if this is sufficient or if we should look elsewhere. Hard to say from the plugin page, it's quite sparse. But I'd be happy with two things: - Seeing how many subscribers a feed has and how it changes over time - Seeing which articles a reader visits from the feed, i.e. click-through > After that if it passes muster we will request a security review and go from > there. Sounds good!
Flags: needinfo?(robert)
Sounds good, I requested access to the dev site so I can install this for you. Once that is done and if it meets your needs we can request a sec review and move forward.
Great, thanks Ben!
Robert, this plugin was turned on on dev. Please poke around and let me know your thoughts. My initial impressions are that this does not supply the data you requested. If you agree I can poke around on more plugins before we start to look at a 3rd party service. I can setup these to test locally so we would not need IT to play around. Please let me know.
Was talking to Robert about this today. From what I understand, the two main statistics needed are... * How many subscribers are there? * How many people are clicking through to the article?
Priority: -- → P1
I'll poke around with some plugins locally and see if any do the above. So far most are pretty bad. I suspect we might have to go with a 3rd party (feedburner) alternative. Will update when I have done more research.
Ben: review comment 2 from above about feedburner.
Based on what I have seen so far I do not think any plugin will be able to give you that data. The only way to know those 2 data points is with an outside service. Anyone on this bug aware of a service we currently use elsewhere that is in use/approved. Chris are we tracking RSS subscribers on the mozilla.org blog?
To my knowledge, we are not tracking RSS subscribers on any other Mozilla blog. In all of our research on this one, we don't know anyone that is using an RSS subscription stats service that is already in use.
Ben, thanks for keeping this going. Sounds like we should build such a service then.
Well not sure if we should build a new feedburner yet :) Chris I am thinking this would be a good project for the new analytics person. It sounds like we need to find/research a good rss stats solution for hacks and other mozilla blogs. Does this seem like a good idea to you?
Flags: needinfo?(chrismore.bugzilla)
Chris, Can you provide feedback on this.. would this be a good task for our analytics new-hire? Is this applicable outside of the hacks blog?
openjck: Since the MDN team is going to take over the hacks blog, do you want to take this on? The Analytics person (Gareth Cull) will be starting next week and he could assist after he gets up to speed.
Flags: needinfo?(chrismore.bugzilla)
Chris: Sounds good. This is one of our highest priorities. We will be sure to get started on this next week.
Chris: When you get a chance, could you please share the name of the new hire? I will be sure to get in touch with him next week. MDN team: In the meantime, please feel free to drag this into the "Research & Design" column to start thinking about how we will accomplish this. Pay special attention to comment 15.
(In reply to John Karahalis [:openjck] from comment #22) > Chris: When you get a chance, could you please share the name of the new > hire? I will be sure to get in touch with him next week. > > MDN team: In the meantime, please feel free to drag this into the "Research > & Design" column to start thinking about how we will accomplish this. Pay > special attention to comment 15. Gareth Cull, gcull@mozilla.com. I don't want to throw real work his way during this first week as the Mozilla fire hose will be enough for him.
Component: hacks.mozilla.org → Mozilla Hacks
Product: Websites → Mozilla Developer Network
Things I would ask are: Please let's not use Feedburner. But if that's all we can use, please please use a Mozilla-controlled CNAME [1] and don't just redirect the feeds to the feedburner.com domain. [1]: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mybrand When that service goes down - and given the Reader shutdown, it might be sooner than later - we'll be unable to redirect the feeds back from the feedburner.com domain. At least if we keep them on domains we control, we'll have a fighting chance. Alternatively, this could be a chance for us to delve into the exciting world of feed metrics that barely anyone has solved :)
(In reply to Chris More [:cmore] from comment #23) > (In reply to John Karahalis [:openjck] from comment #22) > > Chris: When you get a chance, could you please share the name of the new > > hire? I will be sure to get in touch with him next week. > > > > MDN team: In the meantime, please feel free to drag this into the "Research > > & Design" column to start thinking about how we will accomplish this. Pay > > special attention to comment 15. > > Gareth Cull, gcull@mozilla.com. I don't want to throw real work his way > during this first week as the Mozilla fire hose will be enough for him. Totally. It looks like we have a good start so far. I will hold off on contacting him for at least a week, and maybe we can even sort it out before then.
Blocks: 854859
Whiteboard: [specification-like][type:feature][selected]
Whiteboard: [specification-like][type:feature][selected] → [specification-like][type:feature]
Bumping down in priority as we continue to do the research. Still want to get this done as soon as possible, but there is some lower-hanging fruit that we can get to first.
Priority: P1 → P2
Whiteboard: [specification-like][type:feature] → [type:feature]
Never used this service before, but I just saw mention of it in my feed reader: http://uri.lv/ Allows for custom domains (ie. something mozilla.org) and has a paid premium option for $24/yr. Might be worth a look.
Looks interesting, and with custom hostname support as well. Seems like something we can try out and see.
Product: Mozilla Developer Network → Developer Engagement
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