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If there’s one word I get tired of hearing in social media, it’s “community.” Sometimes when I’m reading a blog or I’m on Twitter and someone spews that buzzword, I can’t help but cringe. I know this won’t likely be a popular opinion, but I’m going to say it anyway. “Community” is overrated.
Whoa now… put the pitchforks down and just hear me out.
What is “Community?”
For the purpose of this discussion, what exactly is community? Well, it’s just that. It’s discussion. It involves more than one-sided messages — you know, those annoying little things like listening and acknowledging the existence of others.
Is “community” a bad thing? No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I run communities of my own. I’ve helped to manage a very large community of Web professionals in the past. And overall, I love the community aspect of social media. It brings people together, and I’ve met some truly amazing folks since getting into the social media game about six years ago.
Let’s focus on the business side of things though, and the dreaded “community managers” I’m so tired of hearing about. If I see one more person claim to be an expert in “community management” because they ran their own blog or built up Twitter followers through follow spam, screaming just won’t cut it. [click to continue…]
community,
Community Management,
community managers,
conversations,
messages