Background

For the last few months I’ve been following a proposal that emerged from the Ideas4Oregon project; the idea is to build a platform where all Oregonians – regardless of age, background, or employment – can propose ideas that improve local communities and the state, others can find projects to support and others can chip in to fund them. It is a meeting place, or a cross roads for nonprofit, business and civil society groups to come together around improving the state. And, as a displaced Oregonian myself (I will make it home one day!), I’m excited to see the proposal gain momentum and hopefully move to implementation soon!

The team of people currently working on the proposal for this new platform, asked me to help share some context about the role of Community Managers that could be included in the proposal narrative for funders who may be unfamiliar with community building best practices. I wanted to share the short “defense” of Community Managers that I wrote to get your feedback as well as to gather your ideas, examples and so on of why Community Managers are important to our work!

In Defense of Community Managers

Community Managers ensure successful engagement and participation on a new platform by facilitating discussion, modeling behavior, and supporting leadership development.

No one likes to show up to a party without knowing anyone else, and the same is true whether it’s a party, a work function, or even an online platform. Community Managers provide key facilitation that empowers participation and engenders trust. Welcoming new members, nudging conversations, highlighting activity and network weaving across the platform are all part of a Community Manager’s role.

As such, Community Managers play to a core element for any shared space: modeling behavior. Posted engagement policies or intuitive design will do nothing for participation on a new platform without active members modeling the way the tools can be used. Community Managers serve as a consistent example of how to use the platform, how to engage with members, and how to accomplish the goals of the project.

Lastly, a community-focused platform is, by design, supposed to reach enough momentum that a central Community Manager is no longer needed. The community, when it reaches critical mass, can share the responsibilities of a Community Manager (as well as editor, help desk, and many other roles) by dividing up responsibility throughout the group of active members. In order to reach this state, a Community Manager is necessary to provide leadership development within the network by highlight great contributions and active members, showcase opportunities for increased involvement and responsibility, and nurture core community members to have the knowledge and experience they need to feel confident playing a key role in the platform’s long-term success.

What do you think? How do you advocate for or describe the work of a community manager in your organization? Do you have examples to share?

(Image credit: Flickr muir.ceardach)

February’s Net2 Think Tank sprang from an interview with Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody.  The topic asked: What do you think the role of nonprofit organizations is in the changing world of social media? This month, we also have a book giveaway of a free copy of Skiry’s paperback edition of Here Comes Everybody for one of the contributors.

Watch the interview and check out these responses!

You can watch the video interview with Skirky below.  This month, we asked:

What do you think the role of nonprofit organizations is in the changing world of social media?

How do nonprofits participate online differently than individuals?  How do nonprofits convene groups or create content that fits with the changing online environment?  Which organizations are charting the way, navigating the new tools well?  If you don’t know any organizations to point to that are already succeeding, what should organizations do to get there?

I couldn’t resist this great question so posted an answer, too.  My response included the final thought that, “perhaps the changing role of nonprofit organizations in the online space is not one of playing catch-up to the early adopters and hyper-connected individuals, nor is it one of “friending” big names or joining every platform; but is one of strategically convening supporters to create dynamic connections across the community.”  Read more.

Howard Silverman points out that, “One need not work for a nonprofit to be attracted to the idea of utilizing the Net to spur social change.”  He goes on to leverage Ric Young’s metaphor to compare “watching the online flow of ideas and networks to exploring activity under the ocean’s surface with a scuba mask. The Internet allows us to see patterns that were once hidden.” Read more.

Joitske Hulsebosch says, “In a way social media make it easier for each individual to become a non-profit.”  She goes on to focus her thinking around development organizations and adds a great twist to the original question, by asking, “These private initiatives are not using social media. Are not connected and are not sustainable. So what could be the role of the professional non-profit development organisations?”  Read more.

Laura Norvig’s answer focused on the training provided by WeAreMedia (the first training event recently took place in San Francisco). She provides a lot of great links to examples of organizations and inviduals facing these issues and highlights one idea that I think is really interesting for this conversation: many of her favorite examples of success in this topic are those that don’t make a clear distinction between themselves as individuals and themselves as nonprofit staff members.  Read more.

Seth Horwitz makes a great point that social media, “will continue to create new opportunities for helping nonprofits that we can’t anticipate beforehand. And, if that’s true, then maybe it’s in the “self-interest” of nonprofits not just to utilize social media to help their own causes, but also to promote the use of social media in general.”  This idea adds a great twist to the conversation, especially as we consider the issues around adoption of social media in nonprofits.  Read more.

What about the book giveaway?

Since we had only four brave contributors this month, all four will receive a new paperback edition of Clay Shirky’s Here Come Everybody (with a new chapter!). A big thanks and congrats to Howard, Joitske and Laura and Seth for participating in the February Net2 Think Tank!

Stay tuned for March’s Net2 Think Tank topic!