The Community Roundtable

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

  • Who we are
    • Our Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Clients
      • Client Success Stories
      • Member Advisory Board
    • Community Leadership Awards
      • Community Leadership Awards 2022
      • Community Leadership Awards 2021
      • TheCR Awards 2020
      • TheCR Awards 2019
      • TheCR Awards 2018
      • TheCR Awards 2017
    • Careers
  • What we do
    • Benchmarking and Audits
      • Community Performance Benchmark
      • Community Readiness Audits
      • Community ROI Calculator
      • The Community Score
    • Models and Frameworks
      • Community Maturity Model™
      • Community Engagement Framework™
      • Community Skills Framework™
      • The Social Executive
    • Research
      • The State of Community Management
        • SOCM 2022
        • SOCM 2021
        • SOCM 2020
      • Community Careers and Compensation
      • The Community Manager Handbook
        • 2022 Edition
        • 2015 Edition
      • The Social Executive
      • Special Reports
    • Training and Events
      • Upcoming Events
      • TheCR Connect
        • TheCR Connect 2022
        • TheCR Connect 2021
      • Community Technology Summit
      • Training
      • Resource Bundles
    • Resources
      • Vendor Resource Center
      • Community FAQs
      • Community Management Podcasts
        • Community Conversations
        • Lessons From The NEW Community Manager Handbook
      • Community Management Jobs
        • Job Board
        • CMGR Profiles
      • Community 101
        • Community Management Glossary
        • Community Management FAQs
      • Case Studies
      • Community Webinars
  • Who we serve
    • Resources for Community Managers
    • Community Program Owners
    • Community Executives
  • TheCR Network
    • Member Login
    • Join TheCR Network
    • Roundtable Call Library
  • TheCR Library
    • Subscriber Login
    • Subscribe to TheCR Library

What is an online community of practice?

June 20, 2018 By Georgina Cannie

If you’ve heard the term “community of practice” and said, “Hmm…” you’re not alone. There isn’t just one kind of “community of practice” online today. The term can mean something very specific to different groups of people. I’ve outlined the two major buckets online communities of practice fall into (internal and external) and also provided examples of each.

Communities of Practice Types

Internal Community of Practice

An internal, employee community of practice is a community of professionals who share an industry/role/responsibility and also work for the same organization. Usually, the main focus of an internal community of practice is knowledge sharing. Common goals include problem-solving, expertise location, professional development, and innovation. There is typically an online ‘home base’ for these communities in the form of a group within an enterprise social network platform, space on an Intranet, or at a minimum a shared file folder.

Members find value in an internal community of practice through expedited work tasks, less frustration in finding solutions, and expert recognition/social validation. Organizations find value in increased employee efficiency, effective learning and development, and in innovation.

Helpful metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of an internal community of practice include the number of questions and answers, percent of questions answered, percent of questions with correct answers, successful searches, and collaborative outputs like standards documentation.

External Community of Practice

An external community of practice is a community of professionals who share an industry/role/responsibility, who work at many different organizations. A single organization builds, manages and supports an external community of practice for the benefit of a market segment. External communities of practice often focus on thought leadership. Goals center around problem-solving, expertise location, professional development, building professional awareness, and innovation.

Members find value in an external community of practice through expatiated resource location, expert recognition, and professional validation. Organizations find value through brand recognition, market insights, and customer loyalty. External communities of practice may also produce direct revenue if a community is membership fee-based.

Helpful metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of an external community of practice include the number of questions and answers, percent of questions answered, percent of questions with correct answers, questions answered, successful searches, resources & lessons learned shared, connections/friends requests made, and less direct measures like salary differential for members.

 

About Georgina Cannie

Georgina works with TheCR clients to design, develop and maximize the value of their community initiatives and works general community magic wherever she goes. Connect with Georgina on Twitter.

comments powered by Disqus
Community best practices

Resources for the people who build online communities.

ABOUT US
Our Values
Our Team
Our Clients
Careers

RESOURCES
Vendor Resource Center
Podcasts 
Job Board
Community 101
Case Studies
Webinars
Upcoming Events

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Benchmarking and Audits
Models and Frameworks
Research
Training and Events

RESOURCES BY AUDIENCE
Community Managers
Community Program Owners
Community Executives

QUICK LINKS
Blog
Newsletter
About TheCR Network
About TheCR Library
About TheCR Academy

LOGIN
TheCR Network
TheCR Library
TheCR Academy

Contact
Support
Partnership
Inquiries
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter