Posts tagged as:

building online communities

Community Managers: Whose Best Interests Do You Serve?

by · October 26, 2010

The “Wild West” of social media is upon us. Brands are staking their ground in the proverbial gold rush – it’s an all out land grab. From small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, there are new industry positions being created left and right to quantify specific disciplines. (Typically, these job titles usually end with the word “strategist.”)

In this digital age where the public/private line is intertwined and customers are so connected, brands are feeling the pressure to add a community manager position to navigate them through this tumultuous time. (A byproduct of the “everyone else is doing it” syndrome.)

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What Is Most Important In Online Community Building?

by · February 28, 2008

There’s a lot of theoretical chatter online these days about building online communities. The people that are actually doing it are few and far between it seems. This week, I kick off the strategic and technical planning for an online community, so I’m moving from philosopher to doer in this space. It certainly feels good to have the opportunity to put the practice behind the preaching, but it is also an intimidating task.

From a tactical standpoint, I wanted to get some third party input on what the most important user features of an online community should be. What better third party to ask than my social media friends. On Wednesday, I Twittered:

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