1- Will Channelfuse turn into a money-making venture for a corporation ?

Ans – The primary purpose will be to develop the individual site (and the network in collective) into high-value online assets. The idea will be to attain self-sustainability in the shortest period of time, as well as setting up a system where the entire network works as a well-oiled machine. The burden of generating revenue will NEVER fall on the members, and ALL the forums will be free and run by volunteers and members themselves.

2- What will be the immediate tasks and role for the new administration ?

Ans- What we realized at Channelfuse is – it’s a wonderful idea only if implemented well. The major problems arise due to  – lack of communication , lack of funding, lack of technical support and delays caused due to any of these listed reasons. We hope to plug all these issues as soon as possible. Channelfuse will have it’s own back-end development center with tech support available 24/7 .  We will have 3 top designers, 3 coders, 3 marketing/SEO experts , 1 Senior Community Manager and 1 Project Manager.

The entire office is being set-up at this very moment, and we shall be fully operational from mid-March. Meanwhile, we will communicate with all the volunteer staff and members on the sites and discuss and plan on how to take the communities to the next level.

3- Will you be selling any site ?

Ans- We’re merely the custodian of these communities, not the ‘owner’. The site truly belong to the members, and not us. So, no. Selling any site is totally out of the question.

4- Will you be acquiring any site ?

Ans- Yes. Although we are yet to target any specific site for acquisition, we’ll set up a team that will help us acquire the best suited community to join our network.

5- Will Amit be involved in the network ?

Ans- Yes. Since the network was his idea, we would require his input and experience at the network’s disposal. He will act as a liaison in the initial few months, before he moves higher up into the management team.

6- What happens to the existing volunteers (admins and moderators) ?

Ans- Once we establish contact with them and initiate daily communication, we will be better placed to assist them manage the community. We have no plans to change the structure or designation of the volunteers on any site.

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( The above QnA will be updated every few hours. In case you have any query, suggestion or complaint, please feel free to email me directly at management@channelfuse.com . )

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The web is one big community. People create content, comment on other people’s content and create more content, which ends up creating a “conversation.”  

Sometimes, these conversations are categorized and based solely on one topic with sub-conversations. Eventually, the conversation gets so loud and happens so quickly that those involved in the conversation need a little help in making sense of the noise.

This is where the role of an online community manager comes into play. These passionate, educated and dedicated professionals have a tough job in trying to make sense of the content mess and meet the needs of the members of their community.

However, with a slew of tools available at the fingertips, sometimes community management can get automated — stripping the community of exactly that — the community. It, in essence, becomes a big Wikipedia page filled with opinions, links and clutter. Tools can help clean the clutter, but to get the members of the community excited and engaged, the human element can’t be ignored.

You see, people drive the success and, at times, the failure of the community. It’s the community manager’s job to sense when there needs to be life pumped into the conversation or when to deviate in order to continue to spin wheels.

Managers shouldn’t take for granted that a community will understand their motivation either — especially if, for some reason, they don’t like them. The key here is absolute transparency and honesty, regardless of the situation.

At the end of the day, good online community management comes down to being able to listen, react in a timely fashion and provide top notch customer service.  What does that really mean, you might ask? Well, think about the people you’re serving. At the end of the day, it’s all about them.

Read more: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/people-come-first-in-online-community/#ixzz15nM7d3Wg