The Online Community Research Network initiated an online community compensation study in July this year to get a broad look at online community compensation, factors that effect compensation, and the current environment of the community team and community staff roles.

They received approximately 225 responses. Participants represent a healthy swath of the types of organizations participating in online community building activities, including: large software companies, large community destination sites, niche community sites, platform providers, interactive marketing firms and independent consultants.

Key findings from the report:

• - The majority of the respondents are: Female (55%) vs. Male (45%).
• - The majority (61%) of respondents ranged in age from 31-50 years of age.
• - Most of the respondents have more than 5 years of experience, completed a Bachelors Degree, and work 41-50 hours per week.
• - The average Salary of the respondents was $81k with a median of $72.5k. There were peaks on both the low ($0-$25k) and high ends (more than $150k), and then also at $60-$65k.
• - Women are earning only 91% of what men are earning; women averaged $77k, and the men averaged $85k. The average annual salary for all participants was almost $81k.
• - Most participants are satisfied with their jobs with an average satisfaction score of 4.2 and a median score of 4 (on a scale of 1-5).

The report is available for free to members of the Online Community Research Network or available to purchase for non-members.

“… community dynamics [still] require a long-term view. Communities – and I don’t mean flash mobs, groups of 10 people, or event attendees because those are not communities – take time to develop and flourish. Measuring communities based on quarterly earnings calendars is a bad way to go but most businesses are focused on short term performance. We are under such intense pressure to show results that we often abort efforts that play out over longer periods.

Read more at The Social Organization…