The Virtual Gardener
The place where I explore online community cultivation, propagation and harvesting techniques.
I've been working as head of consultancy at Sift for the last four years. The business supports all organisations looking to respond to a Web 2.0 world and truly engage with their audience - and has been doing so for the past 10 years.
This blog originally started out as a comment on a conference I attended about online communities. I'm now using it as a thought-bin for related stuff. Any gaps in posting doesn't mean I've stopped thinking ...
#2 Plum: Who’s in charge?
Who’s in charge of the community?
In most organisations the answer is the marketing department - although that’s not likely to be where the community originated - IT, Customer Service or PR might have had some initiatives.
The important bit is - how is the budget structured? If the answer is marketing has it all, then this could be a really bad situation if marketing is run by a PR/ad driven exec of the very-old school. In fact it could mean the death knell of those initiatives taken elsewhere. A good answer is that each department with a community interest is accountable for their bit (i.e. has a budget). An even better answer is the business has restructured to create a working group representing all aspects of the business and has introduced new roles - e.g. Chief Community Officer.
This organisational transformation is the bit I try and stir up in the first workshop. What it really means is:
1. New roles
2. New career paths
3. New business processes
4. NEW ENERGY (from the interaction with the community)
