Comments on: What’s the difference between a Community Manager and a Social Media Manager?

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 19 May 2010 03:42:18 +0000

i want to know the difference between community development and social change

By: Blaise Grimes-Viort

Blaise Grimes-Viort — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:26:12 +0000

It doesn't read well does it! Worth a bash though – I'll edit it for clarity.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:53:20 +0000

Mixing “he” and “she” in the same paragraph may be politically/socially correct, but it's terrible style

By: Blaise Grimes-Viort

Blaise Grimes-Viort — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:41:54 +0000

Funnily enough, I know a few people who'se job title is webmaster, and the workload they have is insane – usually expected to write copy, maintain backend and do all the social/community management too, along with marketing, newsletters etc… Fine if it's a small site, but one I can think of is for a medium sized charity – I'm amazed at her energy!

By: Blaise Grimes-Viort

Blaise Grimes-Viort — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:40:20 +0000

Thanks Chloe!

By: mathew

mathew — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:01:40 +0000

Like the previous commenters, I think the distinction is theoretical for most organisations, who won't/can't afford to have many people with such similar skillsets filling these separate roles. Moreover, separating them would then require information exchanges between them, which si avoided by having the same person doing both.

Having said all that, it's extremely useful to have clearly defined roles, even if the same person ends up doing both jobs. Being able to mentally "swap hats" between roles ensures that you don't end up treating your cherished community as if it was just another Facebook audience, and vice versa.

Besides, things will change. Does anyone remember when they were just a 'webmaster'?

By: Chloe254

Chloe254 — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:57:56 +0000

Great post. Too many job descriptions are written by people who do not know there is a difference between these two – or who do not know exactly which one they need.

By: blaisegv

blaisegv — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:18:54 +0000

Hi Dane!
Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience and situation, very interesting insight.

Sorry for the confusion; I was trying out Tara's suggestion to mix up pronouns in her “15 things you can to disrupt the system” article: http://www.horsepigcow.com/2010/01/15-things-yo...

By: blaisegv

blaisegv — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:15:39 +0000

Hi Jeanna, thanks for taking the time to comment!

I agree with you that at a startup or small company, splitting the responsibilities would be overkill. Having worked at a couple, I used to do both, and even now as a corporate I still oversee both. However, what I see in my current role is burnout on the part of my staff, overstretched and often slightly out of their element in one or the other role. Either they are fantastic community builders, or they are great saleswomen, but rarely both. It's from this viewpoint that I wrote this post – if money or resource was not an issue, would it be viable/beneficial to create two roles with different focus.

By: Jeanna Barrett

Jeanna Barrett — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:27:51 +0000

I think the rolls are too similar – in smaller orgs, the “Community Manager” or “Social Media Manager” will do all of the rolls mentioned above, just depends on how the company wants to name that roll.
For instance, I'm a Community Manager at a mobile tech startup, but I believe my roll encompasses all of the above.
Thanks for the insight! I'll bookmark your blog – I've been searching for good blogs on Community Management.

By: Dane Tullock aka Waterborn

Dane Tullock aka Waterborn — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:03:23 +0000

You have made some very interesting and valuable distinctions Blaise (though I was a bit thrown off by your differential use of the personal pronouns “he” and “she”). One component of the discussion that affects me personally is that of fiscal support, particularly given current economic conditions. My role as Community Manager at 2old2play, much like those of many of my peers who support various online communities, is one in which I am not financially compensated for my work. I support my community through my role as CM because I strongly believe in the principles that 2old2play was founded upon – that mature gaming enthusiasts (in our case those over 25) need a place where they can meet and interact with people who not only share their love of video games, but also many of the life experiences. In such a situation, one must become a “Jack of all trades” in an effort to create as much content and community focus as possible on a non-existing budget.

Even in the commercial realm (where I currently serve as the Market Outreach Specialist for a major outdoor company), resources are often very limited and many organizations simply do not have the fiscal bandwidth to support separate Social Media Manager and Community Manager positions. I definitely feel that, in a perfect world, there is room for both roles to work independently and together simultaneously to support Community and Social Media needs. The reality is that most Community Managers are Social Media Managers, and vice versa, by necessity.