Autumn, it seems that we tend to use the term "community manager" very loosely at Cisco, but then so does Jeremiah Owyang.

Moreover, a lot of the real engagement and meaningful dialogue between Cisco employees and our stakeholders doesn't happen on company-centric social channels.

Maybe that's why the "informal" representation of our brand is actually viewed as being more authentic and credible when it's shared on a public channel -- such as a topical telecom oriented peer-group within the LinkedIn site.

Besides, I believe that in an industry as complex as ours, you really need substantive domain experience to be able to fully engage with your stakeholders on a broad cross-section of topics. That practitioner insight gives you the confidence to interact, rather than simple pushing out “approved” content.

My point: I'm guessing you've touched on a small subset of the many ways that passionate Cisco employees manage and develop the interaction with their broad-based stakeholder groups online.