I was recently interviewed by Social Media Citizens as part of it’s ongoing series of interviews of professionals who in the social media and community management industry.  It’s a huge honor to be asked about what you do and why you love doing it so there was no hesitation on my part when I was presented the opportunity.

This is the second time I was asked for an interview as a Community Manager for Yahoo!.  The first time was for Pinoy Tech Blog when I just came on board as CM for the Philippines.  Three years later, I get interviewed again and it’s amazing how much three years of experience can add to one’s professional career and I’m happy to have that chance to talk about it in Social Media Citizens.

You can click here for the full interview but below are some highlights of what I shared in that Q&A session:

• My experience in becoming part of the emerging blogging community in the Philippines, becoming a public speaker and a company evangelist and dealing with customers as an E-commerce Manager all helped to pave the way to my becoming a community manager now.
• The best place to build a community ultimately depends on the community’s interest and the company or institution that’s building and managing the community.
• In order for a community to work, there has to be a platform that enables community members to connect with each other easily and collaborate based on their shared interest, the community guidelines should clear communicated to all members, and a community manager has to be present to lead the initiative to build and grow the community.
• There has to be value for users to join a community and this should be clearly communicated from the start.
• Three mistakes to avoid in community management: not knowing what the purpose of having a community, lack of leadership and ownership, and treating community channels as traditional media.

If you have additional thoughts or questions about community management, please feel free to share it in the comments.  Thanks!