CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Creating and running social networkapplications can be a daunting task for credit unions and otherorganizations facing a need to effectively deploy these new masscommunications tools.

A new report from Forrester Research said to successfully deploysuch strategies-- which could include heavily used utilities suchas Facebook, MySpace and iGoogle-- companies should rely on two newpositions: a social computing strategist to oversee the internalaffairs of the program and a community manager to handle externalrelations.

Analyst Jeremiah Owyang said these two positions workingtogether will make social computing programs compatible withbusiness interests while maintaining satisfied communitymembers.

"Running a community is a challenge," Owyang said in his report."You'll have to wrangle internal stakeholders even as you serve theneeds of community members."

This is easier to accomplish with two managers, he said. Usingbusiness experience, the social computing strategist ensures thatthe community meets the needs of the company. In Owyang's scenario,the community manager then reports to the social computingstrategist, and together they run and manage the new sites.

The Forrester report recommended that strategists be leaderswith past experience managing marketing programs or working withcustomers. The strategist also must be able to coordinate communityprogramming with credit union objectives.

In order to do this, the social computing strategist must haveyears of experience, be able to steer though the political rings ofthe enterprise, adeptly manage relationships, and be comfortable inhigh-risk situations.

While it is the social computing strategist's responsible to geta community up and running, it is the community manager'sresponsibility to handle the day-to-day tasks of the community,Owyang said, including heavily interacting with communitymembers.

The community manager should have experience using forums, blogsand other social media tools. "They are often experimenting,breaking and analyzing the latest technologies," said Owyang. "Goto them for tactical questions on which vendors and tools touse."

Community managers differ from traditional marketers in thatthey employ conversational marketing skills, Owyang argued, andnegotiate conflicts and build relationships between members.

The Forrester report said marketing managers would be a goodplace to start while looking for someone to train to be socialcomputing strategists, since they bring business experience to thetable.

But they also should look for potential managers who participatein social spheres informally, such as with blogging or discussionforums. A good place to find them? In online forums alreadynetworking and blogging away.

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