Tummelvision

This past week celebrated the third annual “Community Manager Appreciation Day“.  As I saw the tweets roll by, I realized I have become increasingly frustrated and worried that the roll of Community Manager is not yet defined as strategic and is often viewed through a singular marketing/support lens.   I worry that if we don’t elevate the conversation, the role of Community Manager is endangered of going the way of the Webmaster in the 90′s – relegated to a support position.  The Webmasters of yesterday are the innovators and digital thinkers of today.  These uniquely talented folks that are community managers posses many of  the skills of the Tummler.  When Kevin, Heather and I started Tummelvision, we specifically chose a new word because we strongly believe this is not a role but a way of thriving in a networked age.  It requires design, tech and human skills and can live anywhere in an organization.  Tummlers and tummeling embody the future.  In a world that is no longer command and control – everyone needs to understand “the tummel”.  As we see things, the role of the CEO is that of a “community manager”!

With this is mind, we invited Amy Muller (@amygsfn) to be this week’s Tummelvision guest.  Amy is what we call a natural Tummler. Connecting people and companies is pretty much akin to breathing for her.  In her current incarnation, Amy is co-founder of Get Satisfaction where she helps to lead the charge of building relationships with customers through Community. She also trains and educates those same customers on how to effectively grow and manage their own customer communities. She has been in the trenches and understands that ‘designing for community” is not just about launching a facebook page or twitter account – it’s an attitude.  Just take a look at the groundbreaking Company Customer Pact and you know that thriving in a networked world is territory she understands.

Join us Thursday at 6pm PST/9pm EST as we chat with Amy about how she creates communities that thrive.  We specifically send a shout out to the world of hardworking folks known as community managers so we can start building some conversational bridges that broaden and deepen the discussion around catalyzing and connecting people in a networked world.

Episode Notes

Yoz Grahame (@yoz) talks about online games, real emotion, Douglas Adams, Second Life, Ning, and all manner of online communities.

I first met Willo O’Brien (@willotoons) because, well, it’s hard not to meet Willo O’Brien in the San Francisco geek world. She loves people, knows what’s up and loves to make connections. Willo is an illustrator who built a successful design business called Willotoons with t-shirts,cards, websites and all the cuteness you could want to buy. In the classic early web 2.0 era way, she mixed her own expression and connecting with early adoption of blogging and most of the new mediums. She shared a lot, speaking and meeting in life and online, about how she was doing what she was doing with other creative entrepreneurs. This path brought her together with the other co-founders of Stitch Labs where Willo is the VP of Marketing. Stitch provides infrastructure and savvy for entrepreneurial creatives who sell on Etsy and online. You can find Willo everywhere online, as willotoons.

If you’re trying to understand how to work in a more fluid economy, how your life and work integrate healthily and how the economy itself will shift as growth comes more and more from creativity, Willo O’Brien is a woman worth listening to. Oh, and if you want to get the fluid process of living with social media without all the slimy sensation that comes from self-professed gurus, please join us this Thursday at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

Episode Notes

Maciej Ceglowski (@pinboard) joins us to talk about the sustainability of online services, artisanal software, and ardent fan fiction communities. We highly recommend his Pinboard.in bookmarking service and his blog Idle Words.

Episode Notes

Journalist Quinn Norton (@QuinnNorton) joins us to talk #SOPA and #Occupy and to introduce us to our new SEO keyword: “stochastic.”