Community Manager

Time Commitment: Similar to moderator

This resource owns the day-to-day operation of the community - answering procedural questions, keeping the community site/tools operational, etc. The community manager can also fill the role of moderator.  The Community manager is responsible for

Responsiblities:

• Should invite new SMEs to participate

• Answering novice user questions/errors

• Creating promotional messages

• Help build membership/traffic

• Encourage anyone to contribute

Moderator

Time Commitment: High - 30%-60% for first month, 10%-15% later:

The moderator determines best course of action for handling issues like improper or prohibited messages, improper posting format, off-topic discussions,

Moderator responsibilities include:

• Should be familiar with the range of acceptable material, topics and culture of their community

• Should check community every day, look for unanswered questions

• Contact questioners directly to find out if they got answers and encourage them to post again

• Should contact the SME's to alert them to the presence of an unanswered question and ask them to help

• Solicit participation from the community whenever possible

• Remove inappropriate posts or content

• Point members to external sites if it is more appropriate to do so

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Time Commitment: Medium - reading: 1-2 hrs weekly / contributing: 4 hrs monthly

Subject Matter Experts help to serve as founding core members of your community. They are able to create engaging content for community consumption and can weigh in on top issues that are raised in the community.

SMEs should subscribe to the community (or at least the discussion threads in the areas of expertise/interest) so information can be provided in a timely manner and post new threads or blogs to announce new changes and/or discoveries in the areas of expertise/interest.

Content Contributors

Time Commitment: Low - 4 hrs monthly

The community will need to be seeded with initial content in order to start the community.  These could be bother internal or external resources.