I heard a bit of disturbing news today about a community manager at a local competitor.
She has been reassigned, and it was not voluntary.
It turns out that the media company feels as though she has created such a robust community that it is now self-sustainable and no longer requires her services.
That’s really a shame. I wonder what their plan of attack will be when people stop contributing or the quality of content begins to spiral, which it will.
You would think I’d revel in this this news, as this is a competitor, but I can’t do it. It’s a hit to the craft and the importance of our work. Nothing about that brings me joy.
What are your thoughts on this? We all know that building it isn’t enough. They built it and people did come. But they only stayed because someone made it worth their while. I wonder what will happen next. Whatever it is…chances are it won’t be pretty.
I’ll keep you posted.
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November 3, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Russ
Hi Angela,
Interesting scenario here. I agree that this is most likely a recipe for flight from and boarded-up homes in this community.
It did prompt me to think about how the “care and feeding” of an online community evolves over time in response to member(customer) needs and trends and also proactively as a facilitator of company goals.
Would a move like this EVER be a good one?
And just how did the powers that be determine that this community was sufficiently self-sustaining? what are the metrics? or even less clear measures of this? That’s assuming it was even a decision based on some sort of business logic/strategy, of course.
Look forward to knowing what becomes of this community.
Thanks!
Russ
Seattle, WA
http://www.twitter.com/russhatfield
November 3, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Angela Connor
Hey Russ: I am willing to bet my entire paycheck that there were no metrics taken into account here. We’re talking about a newspaper where layoffs have been across the board and the penny pinching is real. The conversation was probably more like: “We’ve got a lot of visitors and they are pretty active. I bet we can let them be and just check in periodically.” Someone else chimed in and boom…decision made. It all goes back to the lack of understanding of the work. If you don’t understand the value that a community manager brings, it’s easy to say the role isn’t needed. There are so many intangibles. Sometimes i want to make my inbox public so everyone can see all that we deal with behind the scenes. I will be sure to provide updates.
Best to you!
November 4, 2009 at 12:15 am
Michelle
I saw the headline in my feed reader and for a moment thought _you_ were leaving. Whew!
This is really sad. Can you imagine this in the offline world? “The city is tight on money and the citizens are fairly well behaved. Let’s do without a police force and just have the mayor check on them every once and a while.”
Now, I realize that a community manager is more than just a police force but that was the closest offline analogy I could think of.
Thinking that a community will just run on its own is silly. Sure, it may coast along for a while. If it’s really active, with lots of people who already make new topics, it may seem ok on the surface. But there’s always going to be troublemakers or just people who rub each other the wrong way and that’s going to start to eat away at the community if left totally unchecked.
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me.
Michelle
November 4, 2009 at 12:31 am
Angela Connor
Hey Michelle: That analogy cracked me up, but it is so true. Yes, you and I know that the trolls will sit and wait, and when they put on their full attack, there will be no one there to mobilize and combat the problem. Heck, they won’t even know there’s a problem until it has gotten too huge to handle. THEN, they won’t even know how to handle it. And you are right, it will coast. And maybe that’s good enough for them. But it certainly will come back to bite them. I agree with your assessment 100%.
November 4, 2009 at 10:02 am
Rachel Happe
This is sad and unfortunately not uncommon… and I think there are two likely scenarios here.
The first, as you predicted is a lot more likely. The community will die over time. Tom Humbarger wrote a great post on this (with metrics to back it up) on what happens to a community when the community manager leaves: http://tomhumbarger.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/the-importance-of-active-community-management-proved-with-real-data/
The second scenario is less likely but also a possibility. The community starts asserting its power/influence and goes in a direction that is hard to recover from and not particularly supportive of the sponsoring organization. I talk about this are part of the peril of later stages of community maturity in this slide deck: http://www.slideshare.net/rhappe/the-power-and-peril-of-online-communities
Either way, it’s a totally misguided move that is likely going to waste all they investment they made to get the community to where it is today. Sad to hear.
November 8, 2009 at 11:13 am
Tom Humbarger
Angela – I just read your post and was going to link to my active community blog post, but Rachel beat me to it.
An unmanaged community will probably never completely die off, but the decline is measurable and the experience for community members will definitely change.
My metrics only measured the decline for the 5 months after my former community stopped having active management. I just wish I had access to show how a community’s metrics look more than one year after the active community management ceases.
Tom
November 8, 2009 at 11:21 am
Angela Connor
Hey Tom: I read your post and was quite intrigued with what you shared. I’m sorry that it happened but I’m so glad that you have proof that community management is a need for these communities to thrive. I too, wish you had that access to further show what has ensued. I’d love to talk more offline about working together in some capacity. We are completely on the same page.
November 10, 2009 at 7:49 am
lasullivan
WOW! As you know, I too had worked for a competitor and while I was not in the management side of community, I was however, a member of the eyes, ears, & feet behind the community outreach program. I always felt our role was extremely important because we were fortunate enough to not only foster the online community but to to be able to do that offline as well, with the same people! (and with new potential contributors)
Sad to hear that yet ANOTHER local media outlet is not getting the purpose behind the project understanding that it has lasting results if taken seriously enough to sustain the integrity of the project.
I have always believed traditional, new, & social media can work together. What I see is our local media outlets (not yours of course!), reacting rather than being proactive. Too bad. Community Management, new media, social media combined with traditional media IS the future of media.
I know you’ll keep us posted.