Content services
Content Services Overview
We are applying more focus than ever before to the long-term sustainability of Mozilla. That sounds like a fancy way of saying money, and maybe it is. We want to be making an impact for the next 50 or 100 years, and need to hedge against the idea that desktop search will inevitably deteriorate and can’t be Mozilla’s permanent source of revenue to pursue our mission.
The relationship between money and open source can be strained. But it shouldn't be. It's a tool in the toolbox; there's no need to be overly rigid about it. Participation in the commercial ecosystem is something that we believe is necessary; it's part of our manifesto. We should be very attentive toward what we believe is the right thing to do, and continue having debates about it. But in the end, we need to remember the importance of ensuring Mozilla is sustainable for a very long time.
The Content Services Team was formed in late 2013 to explore opportunities, over time, that would provide additional value to our users, strongly align with our mission and values, and propose new sources of revenue for Mozilla.
Our initial approach was to look for sites and brands to partner with who could provide our users with content that on a regular basis.
A group of Mozillians from the Steering Committee and Firefox team evaluated more than two dozen revenue proposals in late 2013. Each idea we considered was closely evaluated on whether it resulted in incremental value to our users, aligned with our mission and values, and had the potential to significantly impact our sustainability over time.
Below are the initial projects we decided to pursue.
Product Roadmaps
Directory Tiles
- Every time a user opens up a new tab in Firefox, the browser displays Tiles. Frequent Firefox users see screenshots of the websites they visit most often in their Tiles. We look to re-imagine what the Tiles can do on the tab pages. There are a few opportunities that we will test in the market in 2014 and the first of which is to provide sponsored content on First-Run-Tiles known as Directory Tiles. This should launch in Q2/3 and we will then work on additional Tile enhancements outside of First-Run.
Voices
- We look to roll out a PBS/NPR style web-based video series about our Mozilla biased view of the world. This video series and associated content will go live weekly and be promoted across the Mozilla footprint. We will work with selected underwriters to sponsor this content to generate meaningful revenue.
UP/Intent Engine
- UP is our Intent Engine for across Mozilla that helps us deliver personalization platforms for all of our products and services. Our 2014 strategy is to keep building our UP platform to make it available to the desktop, OS, services, and other products and have the bridges built this year that each product team has the ability to read/write to it. We will do limited tests in Q2/3/4 of this year to test different Intent Engine modules (such as tasks, discovery, personalization, ads) to prioritize which modules we commercialize in 2015.
Content Services Roadmap
Q1 2014: Grow Team - We’ll start by hiring a small team of paid staff who can dedicate the majority of their time thinking about how to develop and execute these initiatives. We’ll also look to grow support within the Mozillian community by exploring opportunities for participation and through regular dialog.
Q2 2014: Directory Tiles Launch & Grow Team
Q3 2014: Voices Soft Launch, Grow Team & UP testing
Q4 2014: UP Testing, Voices Launch & Grow Team
Content Services Resources
Check out our Official Content Services Blog.
Watch the Directory Tiles Town Hall on AirMozilla.
If you’re interested in what we are doing, we’d love for you to subscribe to our group and contribute to the discussions. We are also actively hiring, so if you’re interested in joining our team, check out Mozilla’s Career’s Page for opportunities. We have lots to talk about in the coming weeks and months!
In the meantime, if you have anything to add, feel free to reach out to the Content Services Team