Mozilla Support just opened up their Social Media Channels for support from its users. Even though it has always been a volunteer based support community, now, if you are a Firefox user you can do the same on Twitter and Facebook.

The Basics

• Be compassionate, not evil
• Don’t spam, that will be deleted and removed
• Respect the Brand of Mozilla and Firefox
• Don’t be passive, rude or disrespectful.
• If it gets passionate, please feel free to take a walk or take a break
• Avoid political topics, controversial and political campaign hashtags

Your Goal: To answer questions about Mozilla’s open source products (mainly for the latest release of Firefox and any mobile Firefox), remove or report any spam and create a personal and positive experience for that user.

Now sign up and introduce yourself to the rest of the team!

Sign Up Here

SO what does a support tweet look like?

An example of someone looking for help:

1. A user says, “I need help”
2. A user mentions that a part of Firefox is not working, crashing, is slow or gives an error
3. A user asks when a feature in Firefox will work again

Tips: here’s a few best practices to keep in mind:

• When a user is angry for no specific reason and it is clear no answer or support will make them happy, you do not need to continue to interact with them.
  • For example: Tweets containing cursing, offensive word.
• We do not talk about politics so if a tweet has reference to politics, do not reply.
• Be sure to read the entire thread before writing a reply; this means you need to tailor all your answers to fit the user’s question instead of copying and pasting answers. We don’t want users to feel like they are getting an automatic response.
• SLOW DOWN - read your reply a few times before pushing send
  • Double check your answer to ensure it is spelled properly and answers the correct question from the user.

Some tips from the community:

1. You do not have to answer every single Tweet.
2. Please avoid controversial topics.
3. Wait for a response, one reply is enough, if they don’t reply let it go.
4. If the user responds, don’t give them the same info again.
5. Please follow up if they reply, but know when to stop. If it is dark outside and you have to be up in the morning, stop. Seriously, go to bed.

How to ask for help

1. Check out the existing documentation for product tips in support.mozilla.org
2. Look at some of the experienced contributor’s responses, they should be setting a good example. Look in the forums or for a reply with a signature from @firefox, @firefoxbrasil, @firefox_es or @firefox_fr
3. For more help, post your tweet and thoughts in the Contributor's Forum to get the community help:
   1. start here and give them 72 hours to respond

Where and When to Escalate or Find More Help

Support is a very common task that industries need to continue the lifecycle of a product they are selling or developing. At Mozilla, most of its products are open source and are free. Many of the efforts and resources that are used to change and maintain the product are from volunteers like you. So we want to make sure we have as much support for you as possible. If there is an issue that cannot be resolved interpersonally, and requires developer help, an authoritative figure or just simply has you stumped, there is an escalation path.

For questions on specific comments in Facebook or Tweets, there is a forum you can ask for help, where most moderators and admin for the program are subscribed to and check on a regular basis. See this thread for more instructions. For other questions, or concerns of anything that do not follow the guidelines above or the Forum Rules and Guidelines, please contact a moderator and an administrator. They can be reached in IRC or in the forums for more information for how to get help in the forums add [Attn:Admin] to the topic title more https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/attnadmin-how-community-can-reach-admin-and-when-y

If you are already familiar with bugzilla.mozilla.org, and you have enough information from the user to file a bug, check out these resources: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/contributors-guide-writing-good-bug and https://wiki.mozilla.org/Good_first_bug There are also some training resources you can reach out to ehumphries on irc or even the component owner of each bugzilla component. Do not be afraid to ask.

How do I get access to the Reply Tool and become a Social Helper?

The criteria for being added are as follows:

• You have at least 2 weeks experience using #fxhelp, and are an active contributor for about a month, maybe sooner.
• You provide respectful attention and support to users
• You provide clear instructions and objective responses;
• You show an interest in improving your responses, and seek feedback from other team members in the telegram channel or by message and posts in the Social Media contributor forum.
• You show responsibility for how you speak and how you act on social networks, even if it is your personal account.

Sound like you and haven't heard from anyone, email guigs@mozilla.com (this will change once we have written the moderator guidelines ;-))

See you soon!