Expert Community Management resources for professionals. Explore the history, strategies, and practical guides to building online communities from a 25-year industry veteran.
Too many job postings call roles Community Management, but in reality, they’re listing tasks better suited for marketing, customer support, or admin. This common confusion leads to burnout and frustration for both companies and candidates. Here’s how to spot and cor…
Blessed are the lurkers, for they remind us that listening is participation too. Blessed are the question‑askers, for they spark the conversations others didn’t know they needed. Blessed are the moderators, for they keep the peace without killing the joy. Blessed are...
Picking a community platform isn’t a final destination, it’s a checkpoint. What worked perfectly for your first 50 members won’t necessarily hold up at 5,000. The best communities don’t cling to tools out of nostalgia… they evolve their spaces as needs grow, t…
Vanity metrics will pat you on the back, but they won’t keep your community alive. The real question isn’t how big your numbers look, but how deeply your people engage and how much value they bring back to the business
There is a popular myth about the future... that it waits somewhere on the horizon, a place we can reach if we walk fast enough, work hard enough, innovate brilliantly enough. In this myth, community is often treated as part of that horizon. Something we’ll “get to”...
Reddit’s subreddits flourish when members are active, collaborative, and united by purpose. This manifesto puts Redditors and meaningful engagement first; replacing rigid rulebooks with flexible, member-led community building. We see subreddit moderation and...
David DeWald is a pioneering online community professional with over 25 years of experience building, managing, and evolving digital communities of all sizes—some reaching millions of members. Since the late 1990s, he has partnered with diverse organizations and businesses to establish impactful online presences that foster engagement and growth. David is widely respected among his peers for his deep expertise in community strategy, engagement, moderation, and advocacy development. Beyond managing communities, he actively contributes to the industry through thought leadership, including public speaking, and blogging, sharing actionable insights to elevate the practice of Community Management globally.
Tim has worked with No Kid Hungry, Cinnabon, and Carvel Ice Cream where he lead the overall marketing vision, strategy and execution of social media activations, including blogger programs and influencer relationships. In the two years working directly on the No Kid Hungry campaign, Giving Tuesday fundraising increased from $56,000 to over $249,000 in 2015.
Previously the Director of Community for The Huffington Post, where he set strategy and oversaw a team of moderators, support and standards for the leading online news site with over 300 million comments and 70,000 bloggers. Prior to this position, Tim built and managed a community for Huffington Post's live streaming network, HuffPost Live, resulting in over 9,600 guests from more than 85 countries have joining live on-air and over 1.3 million comments on the platform.
