Introduction to Online Communities Via @thejournalizer or Elliot V.

Source: Hyperbole and a Half

There is no single definition that describes each and every online community. However,
Virtual communities are cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people bump into each other often enough in cyberspace. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face-to-face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks -Howard Rheingold
You should probably read his book. Its free on his site, but you can buy it as well.

Rheingold.com/vc/book

Internal Connection to members Increased onsite engagement Used more frequently by non-professionals

External
Increased social media
Increased offsite engagement Often used when fan made communities exist

Both require analytics, monitoring, management, and planning Before you launch!

Community Managers act as monitors for their marketing teams. Collect responses and issues from the public and provide to development. Less frequently engage with members of the community Sort of act as ninjas, but dont call yourself that. Seriously.

Wait, scratch that

Connect with competing communities/companies Cheerleader for the community/Face of the brand Gets involved with the community on their turf Occasionally shares content and information or... Shares pizza with everyone
Just dont tell your marketing teams this

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Googe+ Or anything else that falls under the general theme of a social network. However

Social media and Social networks are important Help to share your content externally Increases community growth Competition is there Conversations occur there Influencers can be found there

Lurkers (Active/Passive)

General Members

Advanced Member

Power User
Community Manager Community Architect

Passive Lurker

Community Manager

Active Lurker

Community Manager

Troll In this case.. Boxxy

Community Manager

The crowd

Community Manager

Community Manager

By the way its not a community. Its a network.

The Power User

Community Manager

Session 2 Thursday, Jan. 12 Navigating communities and Identifying tools Session 3 Thursday, Jan. 19. Community best practices and policy building GovLoops Lauren Modeen. Session 4 Thursday, Jan. 26 Insights from a Community Manager Reddits Erik Martin Session 5 Thursday, Feb. 2. Monitoring, Tracking, and Analytics Session 6 Thursday, Feb. 9. Communication Theory Session 7 Thursday, Feb. 16* What Motivates an Online Community?

Volunteer Project (Become moderators) By the next session get one other person to subscribe to the subreddit Assignment Find a new community and observe how users commonly interact
Look at the tools being used, and the ease of use for finding what you are looking for.

Post a self post that includes two positive notes and two negative notes about the new community

Read through Rich Millingtons site, it rocks. www.feverbee.com