If you’re a community manager or hope to become one, please understand that you will deal with disgruntled members. Depending on your level of involvement in the community, you could potentially be looked upon as a referee.

That happens to me and I am working hard to figure out the best way to deal with it. After all, I don’t want to lose members due to a few troublemakers or users intent on hiding behind the mask of anonymity to wreak havoc on upstanding members who contribute often and are seemingly invested in the site.

One thing that I’m noticing is that just like the real world, people tend to cool off, and emotions that run high one day are often a bit calmer the next.
It’s a delicate balancing act and the skill set needed to manage an online community that is truly a community, in my opinion is still TBD.

If there is a list of five pertinent skills, I believe I at least have 3.5 to 4, as my community is growing and members are engaging more than ever before. Am I hands on? Yes. Do I provide individual attention and answer feedback? Yes. And the community appreciates it a great deal.

But I don’t take anything for granted and just as I had to “plan” and strategize in traditional media, I am doing the same thing here in social media because after all, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.