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March 31, 2007
Hiring a community evangelist
Customer communities need stewards. They need a strong-willed, yet highly approachable and friendly manager who will boldly represent the pervading will of the community to his bosses at the sponsoring organization, then handle the often-difficult chores of explaining the rationale for business decisions made several levels up the food chain.
It's a tough job. But LinkedIn couldn't have made a better choice by hiring our friend Mario Sundar to be the "community/customer evangelist" for the social network. Watch the video to hear Mario briefly talk about his new role.
Congrats from both of us, Mario!
Bonus reading: Jeremiah Owyang lists the seven traits a community evangelist should have along with profiles of others in this role.
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Mario is a perfect fit for this role, everyone gets along with him and he loves to share and evangelize. A perfect fit!
Hi Ben and Jackie!
Thanks for the best wishes.
I've just started listening to user feedback on areas we can improve upon as well as on features they like. You'll be hearing more from me in the days to come.
I'd like to encourage you as well as readers of the blog to send me any feedback you have on your LinkedIn user experience. Thanks!
A role that's tailor-made for Mario. LinkedIn couldn't have made a better choice, congrats Mario!
This is a cool idea but it also strikes me as a bit odd in some situations.
Shouldn't a product speak for itself?
What's the difference between a community evangelist and any other type of advertiser?
Hi Thomas,
I believe a community evangelist is a customer evangelist to begin with -- one who truly experiences and believes in a product, and preaches its benefits.
I've been a LinkedIn evangelist over the past two years, which was the primary reason I was considered for this role.
Hope that clarifies your question.
