With digital media becoming embedded in our lives, many of us will be connected to several online communities at any given time. The Web enables "ridiculously easy group-forming" and one role that is gaining importance is that of Community Manager (CM). With millions of people on Facebook, self-made Ning communities, or company sponsored sharing spaces such as FastCompany.com, I have called 2010 the year of the CM.
The role of community manager is to manage organizational communities of practice, communities of interest and have an understanding of the other communities that touch the organization. Effective collaboration brings economic, social, knowledge, and cultural aspects into play. Workplace-related communities often address only the knowledge and economic aspects but human beings need more. Because digital media are so easily reproduced and appropriated there are few walls between our online communities. Even our offline communities are getting digitally captured, by someone. For example, it is difficult maintain a clear line between LinkedIn and Facebook contacts. Even though many people use the former for business and the latter for more personal communications, few are able to maintain two distinct groups of contacts. These lines will continue to blur (e.g. Twitter) and individual online identities will become a composite of activities in several communities, teams, groups, and networks.
As learning and working get integrated in our networked lives, we not only become lifelong learners but lifelong educators. Teaching and learning are part of the same continuum. Previously separate fields like knowledge management and learning design are being put into one great online digital blender. Networks are designed to share - that's pretty well all they do. It’s now possible for us to share in many directions through multiple networks. Digital replication is easy and cheap.
Knowledge workers today need to connect with others to co-solve problems, and online learning networks (communities) enable this. Other than direct observation, one of the only ways of sharing tacit knowledge is through conversations. Social media enable adaptation, or the development of emergent work practices, through conversations. Better conversations happen in trusted relationships and part of the CM's role is to build and maintain the trust of the community.
An effective community manager is less of a manager and more a well-connected node in many networks of importance to the organization. David Wilkins, at Learn.com, takes this a step further and says that the entire business should be run as a community. "It’s not about customer communities or workplace communities. It’s about recognizing and fostering connections, and enabling information flow and information capture from multiple constituents."
If you are hiring a CM, look for someone who is curious by nature and wants to learn more. People already engaged with social media through blogging or podcasting might have CM potential. Review their work and see what they have to say to understand own perspectives on online communities. Find out how they engage people with opposing views. Community management is not a generic skill either. Communities need managers who understand their field. Find an engineer CM for an engineering community. If that person has little experience, he or she can network with other CM's to learn more. Learning online is about engaging communities and even the CM needs to do this.
Here are some recommendations from people who currently work as online community managers:
The role of community manager is to manage organizational communities of practice, communities of interest and have an understanding of the other communities that touch the organization. Effective collaboration brings economic, social, knowledge, and cultural aspects into play. Workplace-related communities often address only the knowledge and economic aspects but human beings need more. Because digital media are so easily reproduced and appropriated there are few walls between our online communities. Even our offline communities are getting digitally captured, by someone. For example, it is difficult maintain a clear line between LinkedIn and Facebook contacts. Even though many people use the former for business and the latter for more personal communications, few are able to maintain two distinct groups of contacts. These lines will continue to blur (e.g. Twitter) and individual online identities will become a composite of activities in several communities, teams, groups, and networks.
As learning and working get integrated in our networked lives, we not only become lifelong learners but lifelong educators. Teaching and learning are part of the same continuum. Previously separate fields like knowledge management and learning design are being put into one great online digital blender. Networks are designed to share - that's pretty well all they do. It’s now possible for us to share in many directions through multiple networks. Digital replication is easy and cheap.
Knowledge workers today need to connect with others to co-solve problems, and online learning networks (communities) enable this. Other than direct observation, one of the only ways of sharing tacit knowledge is through conversations. Social media enable adaptation, or the development of emergent work practices, through conversations. Better conversations happen in trusted relationships and part of the CM's role is to build and maintain the trust of the community.
An effective community manager is less of a manager and more a well-connected node in many networks of importance to the organization. David Wilkins, at Learn.com, takes this a step further and says that the entire business should be run as a community. "It’s not about customer communities or workplace communities. It’s about recognizing and fostering connections, and enabling information flow and information capture from multiple constituents."
If you are hiring a CM, look for someone who is curious by nature and wants to learn more. People already engaged with social media through blogging or podcasting might have CM potential. Review their work and see what they have to say to understand own perspectives on online communities. Find out how they engage people with opposing views. Community management is not a generic skill either. Communities need managers who understand their field. Find an engineer CM for an engineering community. If that person has little experience, he or she can network with other CM's to learn more. Learning online is about engaging communities and even the CM needs to do this.
Here are some recommendations from people who currently work as online community managers:
- CM is not a 9-5 job, it is a very time-consuming job and the results are not always tangible and visible.
- The role changes as the needs of the community change.
- Online communities do not manage themselves.
- Communities often don’t grow the way they are planned and may be taken over by a sub-group.
- The CM can bridge the gap between those inside and outside the organization.
- The CM doesn’t fit into any single departmental silo – the role is similar to ombudsman.
- Communities do not want to be managed, they want to be nurtured.
- The launch phase requires a small group that is passionate and “transacting” a lot.
- Building community is not about collecting as many people as possible.
- Building community means giving up control.
- There is a dynamic tension in communities: control versus member empowerment (experienced CM’s seem to be at ease with loss of control).
People may talk about "gaining participating" or "creating community" but the community already has to be there, connected through some common purpose or interest, in some way. The CM should start with the desire of individuals, not management, to form a community (community of interest; community of practice). Getting communities off the ground usually requires a core group of motivated individuals. Find and support these people.
Community management is not organizational management. Co-operation is not collaboration. Co-operation requires free will on the part of all participants. It is messy and complex.
Additional Resources: http://delicious.com/jarche/communitymanager
