Marshall Kirkpatrick is a Lead Author for the very popular web apps, web technology trends, social networking and social media website, ReadWriteWeb.  He posed an interesting question on Twitter;

marshallk “Thinking of writing a story about whether startups need community managers. Thoughts?”

In his own blog, Marshall said that he got twenty people to reply.  There were some great responses.  Look for his article on ReadWriteWeb.  Here is what I had to say:

If by “community managers” you mean someone that keeps track of what is happening in a certain community, then yes, startups need a community manager. Especially if that company pays attention to social media. Social media is so important for many companies these days, but the sheer volume of information that is shared can be a problem for them. I think it takes at least one person in a startup to “keep an ear to the ground”. That person should be reading feeds all day and paying attention for appropriate information and content. That person should be writing a blog and listening to their other networks. A social network community manager should learn about what is happening in that company’s field every day and report it to their team.

Doug Coleman

If anyone out there is looking for a community manager, I am looking for a job.  Feel free to contact me at: dougcoleman1@gmail.com

I know my thousands (ok, maybe a dozen) of readers will not know what to do this week when I go camping and become unplugged.  Don’t worry people, I’ve got you covered.

First of all, if you live in Portland, for god’s sake people go outside!  We get precious little sunshine around these parts and if you are as pasty as I am, you need it.  Geeks can find wi-fi in many outdoor locations in Portland.  Or better yet, give yourself a break from it.  The night after I went offline for an entire day once, I slept like a baby.  But if you just can’t pry yourself away from the ‘ol “Google Box”, here are some cool things to do this week:

1. Join my club!-  PCC Multimedia Club needs new blood.  This summer we are volunteering at FreeGeek to build computers for needy students and have big plans for this fall.  You do not need to be a student to join.  Contact Greg Walters, PCC Multimedia Club Coordinator and get started.  I hear the club President is really cool!

2. Geeky Gatherings-  Like I said before, Portland is a great place to be if you are into multimedia/tech/internet.  There are at least three events that I would go to if I were going to be in town:

Substance Summit ,  ( Wednesday July 9th, 3:30pm, Lucky Lab beer hall )
The first in a series of conversations with the Portland creative community to help each other understand how we can be more inclusive, collaborative and effective.

CHIFOO Meeting: Understanding the Multi-User Experience ( Wednesday July 9th, 6:30pm, Techtronix Building 38)                                                                                                                                                      Presented by Jen Young & Matt Arnold, Second Story.  “Jen and Matt , members of the stellar Second Story Studios team, will show how understanding people’s needs and tendencies—and the learning curve for people that must be managed in multi-user experiences—can be squared with innovations offered by ever-changing technology and hardware, design obstacles and opportunities, and the desire to wow visitors while offering designs that are appropriate to the content.”

iPhone 3G & App Store Launch Party: ( Friday July 11th, 6-9pm, Platial, Inc. )

“In celebration of the iPhone 3G & App Store launch, join members of the Portland iPhone community…”
* Check out the new iPhone 3G
* See demos of App Store applications
* Meet members of the local iPhone community

3. Investigate the Portland geek scene:  Portland is literally crawling with ambitious, creative and talented geeks.  There are several local blogs and websites I have discovered lately and read every day.

Silicon Florist is my favorite local blog lately, and not just because they used some of my coverage of Demolicious, but because they cover Portland tech news that may slip through the cracks of Read Write Web, TechCrunch, etc..  The “…Willamette Week for the Portland tech scene”, if you will.  Rick Turoczy, a big player in the Portland tech scene, writes this blog.

Portland is Awesome is …”a celebration of the many fun and interesting things in Portland, Oregon. Many of the Portland blogs just seemed too corporate, so I thought it would be cool to start a new group blog where people can blog about anything related to Portland. It doesn’t even have to be “awesome”; we can talk about anything happening in Portland.”  Super-blogger Dawn Foster writes this blog and also writes another great local blog, Fast Wonder.

PDX Web Innovators is “…a technology-agnostic group where you can meet like-minded web people without the excuse of a networking-only event.”  They do great things for the Portland web scene.  I am looking forward to their next event and using their great website resources.

Twitter is how I keep in touch with what is going on in the PDX  tech scene.  Some my local favorites are @brampitoyo (this kid has his finger on the pulse of the PDX scene), @marshallk, @geekygirldawn, @turoczy, @caseorganic, and others.  Check out my page and see who I am following.  My very favorite so far is @corvida

4. Put up a page or join a group on PortlandNeighborhood.com:  “Portland neighborhood social network. Meet other Portlanders, view Portland pictures & videos, join a group, have a discussion, and more!”  This is a very new Portland site and has much potential.

5.  Leave Me a Comment:  Let me know what you think of my blog.  Let me know what you would like to hear about in this blog.  If this is all unreadable crap, let me know that too.

There you have it, something geeky and fun to do until my next post.  Look for more good stuff next week.