The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Online community platforms: Feel the meh.

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The rise of communities as a powerful tool for behavior change has brought with it no shortage of new platforms and technology.  There are large enterprise level platform providers, smaller niche offerings, community offshoots of major social and CRM platforms, and hybrid community-collaboration … [Read more...]

Language of Engagement Guidelines

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I am lucky to work with some of the best community managers in the world and over the years, we've learned a lot together about how to encourage and inspire engagement. Interestingly, the most valuable engagement requires a focus on both high-level community strategy and how it is translated into … [Read more...]

Community Hiring Is Not Keeping Up

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Community management skills are increasingly required for all management roles. That has not resulted in a corresponding increase in community hiring. Communities Are Now Strategic Executives finally see communities as intriguing options for solving their organization’s hairiest issues - from … [Read more...]

A 2017 View of the Community Platform Market

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The Community and ESN Market is in Flux The community platform market is in flux, leaving customers anxious and uneasy. The two most mature independent community platform providers - Lithium and Jive - have been acquired by private equity firms. Even more recently, Lithium turned around and … [Read more...]

Jive Acquisition: The End of the Beginning

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When I started IDC’s social software research practice in 2007, the entire market was about $50 million and Jive was one of 10 or more vendors. Needless to say, the market has come a long way in the last ten years, along with lots of twists and turns. Throughout it all, Jive has taken a … [Read more...]