Visit our website or our sponsors to download the full report: The Community Roundtable: http://the.cr/socm2014 DNN: http://www.dnnsoftware.com/about/resources/whitepapers/view/whitepaper/cid/429422 Jive: https://info.jivesoftware.com/SI-StateofCommunityManagement.html?source=Sponsorship&mrls=Sponsorship&asset=The%20State%20of%20the%20Community%202014 The 2014 State of Community Management is the fifth edition of this annual research into the evolution of community management practices at leading organizations. This year's research builds on the initial qualitative reports and quantitative insights in 2013. This year, collaborating with TheCR Network members to define objective indicators of community maturity, the research covers a wealth of data regarding standards and evolving community management practices. By defining these objective measures we can now compare maturity across community size, objective and age - helping us explore and learn more about community practices. This year’s research assesses the maturity of online business communities based on the competencies in the Community Maturity Model and sought to answer three main questions: 1. How are communities performing? 2. What are the standards and strengths of communities? 3. What opportunities should community managers focus on to grow their programs? We surveyed 164 communities across industry, use case, size and age. The average community age was 4.8 years and 43% of survey respondents were members of TheCR Network. Inside the research report there are insights and data supporting our three key findings: 1. Community maturity delivers business value 2. Advocacy programs increase engagement 3. Executive participation impacts success In addition to the key findings, the report includes data, analysis, case studies, actionable insights and recommendations related to the eight maturity competencies in the Community Maturity Model.