Outlook Money recently did a story on Social Media careers in India. For the same, they interacted with the leading social media marketers and evangelists to answer queries, specifically, on the career options in the Social Media domain. With the Likes of Mahesh Murathy (Pinstorm), Gautam Ghosh & Gaurav Mishra (2020 Social), Daksh Sharma (Iffort Consulting), I was also a small part of the story. You can read the web version of the article here.

I was basically talking about the challenges being presented in the Community Management function and how engaging and daunting it can be at the same time. The story 'The Right Connect' is also published at the end of this post, what follows here is my understanding of the challenges with community management:

1. Name, age, designation, company
My Name is Kinshuk Sunil. I am the Manager (Community & Relations) for OSSCube. OSSCube is a global Open Source Enterprise for Open Source Solutions with expertise in outsourced product development. I am 24 years old.

2. Briefly describe your job profile and what your are responsible for.
As Manager (Community & Relations), I am responsible for forging strong relations between my company and the communities of open source developers, media and end users across regions. By that I mean, I am responsible for keeping the expectations and feedback from these communities with the initiatives and expectations of my Company in sync. I am also responsible for promoting open source in and around India and to give the open source ecosystem in India a push. I also have to be always available to the community, hear them out, interact with them, engage them, resolve conflicts and issues faced by them and acknowledge their contributions.

In my attempts to do so, I have to be constantly available to the community - 24x7. Always be around, always be accessible. In addition, I organize frequent community events such as OSScamps, Bar Camps, Mozilla Camp, Creative Commons Salon, national and international conferences. Engage with Media (Social, Online and Offline). Always be accessible and approachable. It is not an easy job.

3. Tell us what makes your job special. Why it is exciting, things you learn, challenges you face and so on.
The best thing about my job is that I get to interact with so many people. This is also the challenging part of it. Building and nurturing human relations is one of the most important aspects of community management, and always being in the loop is both very daunting and very rewarding. The level of trust people put in you and the support that they extend to you, keeps you excited and channelized enough to do your thing. Also, these interactions give you access to the industry mentors, and gurus and the learning opportunities are immense.

Another enriching aspect of my job is that most of the community initiatives are very impromptu. Accomplishing objectives with your community within a time crunch is very satisfying. One challenge is to remain in contact and in-sync with your ever growing community. This extends beyond your work hours, knows no concept of holidays, and always expects you to push yourself beyond your limits.

4. Finally, any advice you would have for people who want to take up social media as a profesional?
Job for a Social Media professional can be very demanding. You will be required to be accessible and available throughout. Social Media will also, in more than one way, strip you of your privacy. You will always be under scrutiny. It is very important to take things constructively. Remember, you will meet all sorts of people - which in a few rare cases can be a very disgusting experience as well. Don't get full of yourself. Don't stagnate. Keep moving forward.