Seven Wins in Developing a Technical Community

To me, more "community" means a win for Support, Marketing, Sales, R&D, Services, HR, customers, and you:

1. More shared knowledge and improved support (a win for Customer Support)
2. More awareness and visibility of products (a win for Marketing and Sales)
3. Understanding of what challenges customers face and how they're implementing a solution (a win for Research and Development)
4. A chance to shift from a hands-on to a brains-intensive "expert model" (a win for Professional Services)
5. A chance to be transparent, showcase a company culture, and earn trust (win for HR, the market, and the organization)
6. All of the above for a win for the customer as they get more shared knowledge, more product understanding, an understanding of what to watch out for, expert consulting, and a product and company they can trust.
7. For you, a win for career satisfaction.

Though Google or some link might have brought you here, in the end it's really about you and your needs. You need parts of one to seven above. You need the right connections. You need the help of others (Can you do your work without the occasional Google search? Would you want to?).

But it's not who you know, it's who knows you. Luckily it's not a competition because knowledge work doesn't operate according to the rules of scarcity or the "zero sum game", but according to abundance. 

It's your opportunity to contribute to the "Seven Community Wins," you just have to participate.