Celebrating One Year of Community Manager Chat

By: J.D. Ross
(315) 443-3094

Wednesday afternoon marked the first anniversary of Community Manager Chat on Twitter, a forum started in September, 2010 by Kelly Lux, the Online Communication and Relationship Manager at the School of Information Studies (iSchool) and Jenn Pedde, a Syracuse University alumna and Community Manager for the online MSW degree at USC.

This weekly chat, organized on Twitter via the hashtag #CmgrChat, serves as a forum to discuss ideas, foster collaboration, and acts as a resource for employees working in the fast changing community and social media management field. Participants have come from various tech-related industries, and include companies such as Klout, Google, Yelp and CareerBuilder.

“Every week this chat brings new community managers into a circle of people who are constantly learning and growing in the field, and bringing back knowledge and best practices to their companies,” says Pedde. “The chat also provides an opportunity for veteran community managers to constantly build on what they know in an ever changing industry.”

The chat has had a positive impact on the iSchool as well. Through her involvement with #CmgrChat, Lux has made connections with community managers across the country and around the world.

“I have learned a great deal about the variety of tools and strategies used by other community managers and have been able to put many of them to use in my work at the iSchool,” explained Lux. “One of the major lessons of #CmgrChat has been the value of integrating social media into all facets of an organization and how important it is to really know your own community before you can represent it online.”

The first chat started with 88 participants and 761 tweets, and the chats have grown to a high of over 1200 tweets, with average attendance of 85-100 people each week. The chat meets every Wednesday at 2:00 EST for about one hour.

Festivities at the iSchool included a gathering of social media professionals from across the University, who celebrated (and Tweeted) with cake and other refreshments.