I am currently employed as a Community Manager for a non-profit association and I really enjoy my work. I am always learning something new and find the position to be challenging and very rewarding.

The position taps into my passion and talent for research, creating knowledge content and training. I love blogging, creating discussion threads and providing best practices on the placement of content to better promote your CoP website to your members.

I would tell a room full of college students who are interested in career as a community manager to take more Communication and web content writing classes. Be sure that the communication classes focus on “FIERCE CONVERSATIONS” with internal and external key stakeholders. Because communities of practice website are not defined by geography, please take some Sociology classes to learn about other cultures and their norms. It can be quite challenging developing a team virtually and having excellent verbal and written skills is key to this position. Lastly, I would tell students to take a good look at their personality (and be brutally honest) with who they are as a person. If you are closed and do not enjoy interacting with people, this may not be the position for you. But if you enjoy reading, ongoing learning, research and technology — This is a position that will be quite gratifying for you!

During the econical downturn, I have noticed more people visiting online communities of practice websites to collaborate with other practioners, professional development and volunteer opportunities.

Thanks for your help!

Some communities are technical, some for special interest, others for fun. All of them need to know there’s someone on the other end who are are available for them and that support them. All communities need love and support and patience** to help them grow.

The greatest thing is, there are tons of resources out there for Community Managers and even books written on how to grow your community.

Anyway, thanks for the article. Yes it is a growing job and not one that’s for everyone ;)

Their are many tricks to make an online community a success to the point where I could probably write a book on the subject.

I’ve read that community management is the new PR. While it will never replace PR, it’s definitely an important job for any brand – whether or not they are defined as an online community/social network. I feel very fortunate to be able to work as a community manager. Don’t get me wrong – the job is tough – it takes a lot of time, patience, and determination. You get to hear from users who are thrilled with your product and you get to hear from users who don’t like it at all. You have to be aware of your online presence at all times because in many cases you become the face of the brand, at least on the web-savvy consumer side (which is growing daily.)