Considering the ongoing concerns with Dolphin and unofficial websites ( https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-a-request-to-all-users-caring-about-supporting-developers ) I think that more needs to be done in regards to social media accounts. A number of unofficial social media links are very highly ranked in searches for Dolphin emulator, a few of them appearing much higher than the official accounts themselves. Combined with the fact that many people are using social media as a news source these days the lack of presence Dolphin has on many social media sites is a bit of a problem.
Suggestions:
- Add social media links somewhere on the main website homepage. Without greater visibility I don’t think a lot of people know half these accounts even exist. The unofficial website does an okay job at doing this and I think dolphin-emu needs to do the same.
- Keep the Twitter account updated (I’m assuming https://twitter.com/Dolphin_Emu is official, if not establish an official account). There are multiple unofficial Dolphin Twitter accounts with one of them being highly ranked in search results. At the very least it would be nice if the Twitter account could be updated with a link whenever a new article is posted on the homepage. I would also suggest trying to get the account verified once a link is added to the homepage considering the fake accounts but I’m not sure exactly how easy it is to do so.
- The official YouTube account ( https://www.youtube.com/user/dolphinemuorg ) is again lower ranked in searches than the unofficial one. I wouldn’t expect any users to know of this account unless they actively follow Dolphin news posts. I would again suggest trying to get it verified along with including a YouTube link somewhere on the homepage. Creating more video content would also help but I understand that would take great deal of more work.
- The Google+ page ( https://plus.google.com/102301409253582998506/about ) looks mostly fine but I would suggest changing the tagline. It doesn’t match other Dolphin sites and the use of the word “unofficial” makes it seem like it might not be an official page.
- The Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/dolphin.emu ) looks good and is as far as I can tell the most successful Dolphin social media page by a considerable margin. My only suggestion would be to try to again get verified but this is probably less of a concern here as there aren’t any popular unofficial Facebook pages competing.
- Reevaluate the Dolphin tagline/summaries and keep them consistent throughout all sites along with any other branding. “GameCube/Wii games on PC” seems a bit dated now that Dolphin supports a number of platforms including Android.
- Not so much social media related but add a link to Dolphin on the Google Play Store somewhere on the dolphin-emu Download page. Also consider having someone rewrite the Google Play Store description. It contains at least one spelling error and in general I feel lacks the professionalism that the Dolphin release announcements usually have. Dolphin on Android in general seems to lack overall presence on the Dolphin homepage which is something I think can be improved.
Suggestions:
- Add social media links somewhere on the main website homepage. Without greater visibility I don’t think a lot of people know half these accounts even exist. The unofficial website does an okay job at doing this and I think dolphin-emu needs to do the same.
- Keep the Twitter account updated (I’m assuming https://twitter.com/Dolphin_Emu is official, if not establish an official account). There are multiple unofficial Dolphin Twitter accounts with one of them being highly ranked in search results. At the very least it would be nice if the Twitter account could be updated with a link whenever a new article is posted on the homepage. I would also suggest trying to get the account verified once a link is added to the homepage considering the fake accounts but I’m not sure exactly how easy it is to do so.
- The official YouTube account ( https://www.youtube.com/user/dolphinemuorg ) is again lower ranked in searches than the unofficial one. I wouldn’t expect any users to know of this account unless they actively follow Dolphin news posts. I would again suggest trying to get it verified along with including a YouTube link somewhere on the homepage. Creating more video content would also help but I understand that would take great deal of more work.
- The Google+ page ( https://plus.google.com/102301409253582998506/about ) looks mostly fine but I would suggest changing the tagline. It doesn’t match other Dolphin sites and the use of the word “unofficial” makes it seem like it might not be an official page.
- The Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/dolphin.emu ) looks good and is as far as I can tell the most successful Dolphin social media page by a considerable margin. My only suggestion would be to try to again get verified but this is probably less of a concern here as there aren’t any popular unofficial Facebook pages competing.
- Reevaluate the Dolphin tagline/summaries and keep them consistent throughout all sites along with any other branding. “GameCube/Wii games on PC” seems a bit dated now that Dolphin supports a number of platforms including Android.
- Not so much social media related but add a link to Dolphin on the Google Play Store somewhere on the dolphin-emu Download page. Also consider having someone rewrite the Google Play Store description. It contains at least one spelling error and in general I feel lacks the professionalism that the Dolphin release announcements usually have. Dolphin on Android in general seems to lack overall presence on the Dolphin homepage which is something I think can be improved.
