Seth’s Blog: Jobs of the future, #1: Online Community Organizer
Seth’s Blog: Jobs of the future, #1: Online Community Organizer: fuck this “job of the future” shit. My title in 1998 was Manager of Online Community Development. I did this for a living back then. I love how everything old is new again is old again is new again. Howard Rheingold should get a hearty chuckle out of this.
Now that there’s a ton of people clamoring to be on what apparently is the next wave of online community development, is there any advice or caveats you’d give?
I’d say the best piece of advice is this:
That stratification that people impose between their perception fo themselves and the perception of the users is non-existent. Removal from your ecosystem is a mouse-click away, and the buying into the ideology of an online community is a harder sell when there is so much fluidity of information.
Remove the hubris, serve your audience and define what your audience is an what you offer them, and in turn your expectations from them.
Online community isn’t about the facilitation of communication, but the understanding that community arises out of a shared goal, shared interest and shared commitment toward a larger ideal.
Ethan,
I’m a community manager for xlntads.com and poptent.net, and I appreciate the advice you’ve offered.
I consider myself (my position) to be a “go between” as the voice of the community to the company, and the company to the community.
It’s can be difficult to be objective, but it pays off.