Community Management is the surely the biggest buzz of this century. It's the new talk of the cybertown. A new department created within web-related businesses along with the powering up of Social Media and Networks.
Describing Community Management would imply writing at least a thousand pages about the art and techniques of driving a group of people, within one or more networks, towards a common objective, respective of common interests. To make it simpler, it's about governing, policing and motivating groups. In the broader picture, it would be about legislating and enforcing. But today, with the sharp shift in the way people interact and build relationships behind their screens and keyboards, a new 'isotope' of this function has spawned.
Thanks to some technological revolutions like Instant Messaging, Web 2.0, Open Source, Creative Commons licensing and Mobile Networking, people around the globe have managed to build self-regulated groups within a complex intertwinement of networks. They now interact in such a way that they have fundamentally transformed the mode of exchanging knowledge and doing business. The face of the world has changed forever and so with it, the role of moderators of the old-fashion Bulletin Boards, Forums or Chat rooms. As you might have felt, one no more gets kicked off a network but is encouraged towards building a new group or blogging about his niche. Adding the 'Online' tag allows a more focused and appropriate approach to the job.
ONLINE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
It is, above all, about developing, facilitating and nurturing relationships between people having the same interests or objectives. Its role is to lead the group towards reaching, renovating its objectives and goals. OCM is a multitasking activity that covers monitoring, supporting and listening to the group as a whole. It includes the functions of content generator and developer, discussion initiator and hosting, with enhanced online presence and stature. But this is no more limited to the only Internet.
Associated to Brand Management, OCM can become a useful Weapon of Massive Awareness for lead generation endeavors. It can act as a strategic ally in building, consolidating awareness around products, values or an overall image. This is why advertising and marketing entities are so fond of it. Coupled to real-world events, may they be sector, industry or brand centered, OCM can become a powerful catalyst and accelerator for the development of physical relationships within or beyond the target market by translating online acquired knowledge and data into hard facts and tangibles.
In short, Online Community Management is about federating groups and networks, analyzing their behaviors and extracting valuable social and commercial data that may be useful for the advancement of an ideology, a name, a product. As such, it is seen as the new 'trendmaker's' tool of the neo-social world set.