Most firms don't need one yet (sadly), but some do and certainly CCO will become more commonplace in the next few years IMHO. - Dion Hinchcliffe
That's my big question - what is the "official" role of the officer over Social Strategy? CCO? Chief Social Officer? Chief Social Strategist? Chief Social Evangelist? I like the "community" idea. - Jesse Stay
The social applications of today are great for letting employees loose, for collaboration and innovation. But it's still something to get used to. A CCO shouldn't come from a knowledge management background. The CCO needs to be a conversation instigator, and significant information filter for others. - Hutch Carpenter
"Chief Community Officer" sounds a bit over the top to me... is CCO > VP Mktg? nice to have "Community Evangelist" separate from traditional mktg, but at CXO/VP level, i think it's either Marketing or Customer Service. if you're saying that "Community" = both "Marketing + Customer Service", then maybe i understand. - dave mcclure
Dave, I think it depends on the company. My company, for instance, is building a Social Strategy, in addition to traditional communications channels. The Social strategy plays just as big a role as the traditional communication, and is key to the company's success. I would suggest a CXO position is warranted for that case. - Jesse Stay
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But, in the end, titles are mostly marketing terms anyway - if you think you need a "CCO" or similar position to properly market your company and share with the world what it does I think it's okay, personally. - Jesse Stay
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A key Chief Community Officer responsibility would be: Build and maintain the strongest possible community network effect. Unfortunately, I talk with Global 2000 companies all the time that are still wondering what this Internet thing is when they built their existing business fine without it. Even many so-called 2.0 firms are having trouble with community. It's a very different (and better) way to run your business. Some are succeeding however (SAP, XM, iRobot, and others) - Dion Hinchcliffe
This is part of the discussion of who "owns" community. It will be different for each company, but it's an interesting Q of whether community is integrated into all divisions/aspects of a company's operations, or if it should reside in a few departments who are responsible for driving it. A CCO elevates it, but also removes it from any single department -- which may could kill initiatives with no buy-in, or accelerate them because of C-level involvement. - Charlene Li
I originally read this from an internal community perspective, as in getting employees to use the new tools. But I can see the need for someone tasked to manage external communities. - Hutch Carpenter
I consider myself a catalyst & community gardener. I prepare the soil and remain responsable for the social system to grow healthy. I don´t work inside corporations. My work is mainly with people interested in the conscious evolution of social systems. This has many advantages as people are interested in creating new forms and empowering community, relationship as the center of wealth generation (where money is a small piece of this wealth). No owners just trustees. - Fernanda Ibarra
still - probably a good way to get going is to assign the gig to a c-level person at first? - Gerd Leonhard
As a program manager running several virtual teams to accomplish specific goals, I suppose I am a CCO. Time to change my business card :) - JC unwired
We just discussed it and my title is now officially, "Chief Community Officer" :-) - Jesse Stay
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