Web Worker Daily

The web isn’t the free-for-all that some of us believe it to be. Many sites, especially those catering to niche audiences, use the skills of online community managers to nudge the conversation, seed chat forums with threads, recruit others to take a lead in various topics, and monitor the dialogue to follow site policies. Pay varies from highly compensated to totally voluntary.

When Claudia Linh first entered the field in 1999, she said, “I couldn’t tell you what the job was.” Now, she has friends working for the private sector making “well over six figures.” In those cases, community relations typically falls under the marketing side of the company, said Linh, director of online programs for Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, which helps sick children and their family cope with major illnesses through entertainment, education and family activities.

Job titles include “community manager,” “chat host,” “chat moderator,” and, most recently, “marketing manager” or “marketing coordinator.” Linh, based in the Los Angeles area, estimates that somebody with experience can expect to earn $60,000 and up.

Professionals congregate at the Community 2.0 Conference, which last took place in March in Las Vegas.

Another popular event: South by Southwest, SXSW, in Austin, also in March.

Plus, said Linh, “They’re all over LinkedIn.”

A Community Manager at Work

Then there are folks such as web worker Kanoe Namahoe who show commitment to a community without big pay. For two nights a week and every Saturday, she puts aside the concerns of her day job as an e-content editor for two education technology publications, takes a seat in her home office and logs into her moonlighting job as an online community manager. Along with five or six other adults, Namahoe acts as a moderator for Starbright World, a chat room for sick kids. This is an online forum where kids who are seriously ill — she names cancer, leukemia, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis — can hang out and talk with each other.

To gain access to the chat room in Starbright World, participants need to be at least 13 years old and have a doctor’s reference and parental permission. Namahoe’s job is to make sure the room stays safe for everyone. That means no foul language and no inappropriate conversation, no links without prior permission, no posting email addresses. When somebody breaks the rules, they’re kicked out for the rest of the day, an online form of being grounded.

Namahoe spends her shifts responding to email from the kids, thinking up contests, checking out personal blogs and chatting one-on-one or as part of the group. “The idea is to make this a very robust, interactive place where kids who are sick, can visit with other kids who are also dealing with a terminal illness,” she said.

The site’s expanding internationally and to provide coverage in more time zones, it’s hiring additional community managers, Linh said. Although the job isn’t currently posted, interested people can contact her at through the foundation. The pay is non-profit scale, which means generously above minimum wage.

Namahoe works 12 to 15 hours a week, outside of normal work hours. The organization looks for people who have experience working with kids through teaching or social work. But others, such as Namahoe who has a degree in English, gain qualifications through parenting itself. (She has two teens.)

Training focuses primarily on the back end systems being used and the policies for the chat room. Moderators don’t act as psychologists, Namahoe said. “That’s not the nature of our jobs.” When situations arise that requires special help (”‘I’m scared of dying,’ ‘I’m scared of what is going to happen next,’ ‘I’m depressed’”), the moderators refer the kids to others who can help both inside and outside the organization.

Each night, when Namahoe logs in to begin her Starbright work, she’s usually already “exhausted” from a full shift elsewhere. “But we’ll start talking,” she said, and “we’ll talk about everything under the sun… I love it.”