New Team: Community Specialists

Barry

Since I obviously missed the memo.

Where was it beaten into the ground?

I tracked down the job description (I've read those motherhood statements a thousand times) and can read between the lines. I can also observe, something that is part of my job description.

No where does it say or show that the objective is to provide more accurate assistance nor diminish the need for support in the first place, so my question still remains is this a good use of resources or simply growing staff under somebody's minor empire? Staff who don't seem to use the software they are supposedly supporting.

Apple grew more and more bureaucratic under the old administration in the 90's. I see a return to deck chair shuffling, preoccupation with ordering new upholstery for the deck chairs, and a settling down into a more comfortable position in the deck chairs.

All with the obligatory "excitement".

Peter

Chris CA wrote:

PeterBreis0807 wrote:

Read the names of the forums you enter and also the topic question.

They really do give you a hint as to whether you are asking in the right place

Read the dates...

They really do tell you when the post was made...

LOL... 😉

Apple User 4s posted in October 2013...

Point taken!

My late night vision blurs the details.😀

Peter

An "Inaccurate Community Staff Response" thread? 😀

Wonder where that will go.

Peter

PS I hit this thread when I searched on what the Community Specialists were supposed to be. It seemed such a contradictory title given the advice they have been providing.

I'm confused. When reading the discussions on this site I frequently see knowledgable members replying that Apple does NOT monitor these forums and that everyone here is just an end-user who is volunteering their time. Yet I frequently see replies by 'Community Specialists'. Searching the forums for an answer I ran across the statement: 'The Communities Specialist team is staffed with Apple representatives that will help tidy up our community." Also, when I go to Apple's job postings I see that are currently looking for a Support Communities Specialist Manager. The job description states he will manage the team of Community Specialist and is expected to hold weekly staff meetings.

Anyway, this is all a bit confusing. Could one of the Community Specialists maybe clarify this?

Thanks.

ArminH

I am NOT a CS/Host. My experience is that they rarely participate in open forum as we do, but act behind the scenes quite a bit. The posts I have seen, similar to the ones you have seen, are a result of inability of we users to resolve an issue and are the result of one of us that can 'reporting' to our gracious Hosts. Think of the CSes as "lurkers" if you like, present but unseen.

Hope this helps your understanding

ÇÇÇ

Armin, CCC is confusing the moderators here with the Community Specialists. As already described in this thread the Community Specialists answer posts that have gone more that 24 hours without anyone answering them. Some of the moderators have doubled as Community Service Specialists. As you already discovered they tidy up the community. The Hosts are different from the Community Service Specialists and have a different role.

It would seem that the Community Specialists mainly respond to posts that have gone unloved by regular posters for a period of time and then, in my experience, usually only if they can find a suitable support document to hang the reply onto. They are perhaps less likely to get involved in a thread which requires some back and forth communication to work towards a resolution. While it is possible that they gather some feedback on trending issues that does not seem to be their primary function. Product feedback should go to the relevant feedback page rather than threads here.

Perhaps the key phrase is section 1.6 from the Apple Support Communities Use Agreement (emphasis added).

Apple involvement. Apple may respond to questions but does not formally provide technical support on the Site. Any information that is provided by Apple or Apple employees is offered on an "AS IS" basis without warranties of any kind.

There is obviously some degree of monitoring, although that seems to be mainly reacting to reported breaches of the terms of use, but those who say things like "Apple isn't here" in response to "Dear Apple, my device has stopped working" aren't entirely wrong either.

tt2

Hello, I am a community manager for a large enterprise company and I'm trying to reach the community manager Mandy_S. Please contact me when you have a moment. I would like to setup a 15 to 30 minute call to talk about Jive & Community. This is not a sales pitch or promotion, I am also a community manager and would like to pick your brain for 15 minutes if I can. Please use the email address in my Jive profile.

Thanks

Corey R.

It would be really helpful if Apple would occasionally do live web tutorials where people can chat with Community Specialist.

Also as a person with minor accessibility issues along with tutoring low vision and novist older folks / homebound Seniors. i want to thank Apple for their continued support using remote. I would like to encourage Community Specialist to post more tips and how to complete task to the Accessibilty Community Support. The member following has truly become like a ghost town. So many people with disabilities can benefit from step wise instruction like a cookbook, or individual type hints and services geared to that particular audience.

As a professional who visit homebound Seniors who are isolated and not adapt at setting up devices or have medical issues, it would be true gift for them to have easy and specific Community to share their experience and as team specialist. Boomer may think they know technology but there are older folks just now buying technology to connect with family or telemed support. Today alone I visited 40 people brought them meals and 20 had lost internet connection or had iphone problems and were in a panic. I helped reset them or called taught them how to use support.

Thanks for reading

Glad to share and if I can help or give feedback on the disabled and homebound, email me.

Community Specialists and Community Hosts are Apple employees. You have to get hired for the job.

http://www.apple.com/jobs/us/index.html

Specifically the iPad nano forum:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/ipod/ipod_nano

Regards.

No one here can answer your question - you will need to check the job listings at the Apple site.

http://www.apple.com/jobs/us/

The Community Specialists had to select their names from what was available, just like other users. So, not everyone could get something like Matt K. The same reason I have jeffd55.

the name Matt K. and jeffd55 is the best name i ever heard! 😀 but how can be an Community Specialist or Hosts??

what age are qualified for job hiring at the Apple Store?