John deGlavina, community manager for Cell Phone Forums and Nikonites.com

What does a community manager do?

JD: Community managers are responsible for organizing content, defining rules and guidelines, assigning moderators, and maintaining smooth operation of the community. In my case I also maintain servers and update forum software.

Greg Stallkamp, manager of Holos Fitness, a social network focused on fitness

Sometimes a small group tends to dominate conversations in online communities. Have you ever had that experience? How do you try to bring the group back to a balance?

GS: We constantly have small groups or individuals dominating conversations. We try to limit this influence by persuading other members to join the conversation.

Brandon Wick, Communications Counsel at McClenahan Bruer Communications

What does a community manager do?

A community manager wears many different hats. In general, the job description often involves establishing, growing, maintaining, and optimizing a variety of web-based and social media channels for a company or organization.

Tim Gasper, co-founder of Keepstream.com

What does a community manager do?

A community manager is a role that sprouted up primarily in response to the huge mass adoption of social media and social websites. People are constantly talking about and talking to your brand - on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Yelp, blogs, news sites, review sites, etc. The job of the community manager is to proactively take advantage of these platforms.