Social Media Experts??

For the last few months the news has been how the “social media experts” are ruining Twitter.  People bitched (including me) of how on earth there could be so many so-called-experts in the field. Graphs such as this humorous one created by David Binkowski surfaced:

I saw comments about how the economy and lay-offs suddenly were creating thousands of these experts, merely by the fact that it was all they had to do — hang out on the Net. 

Not that hanging out makes you an expert. 

I have felt frustrated because of the fact that I have marketing and PR in my Twitter title and I think some people decide not to follow me as a result (fearing that I might, like far too many, pummel them with URLS to go back to my Web site or to read my book on how to make money, etc.). I use Twitter for a bevy of other things, including to keep up with a vibrant community of authors and writers, one love of mine. Or the chefs and foodies that make up another area of interest. Or to keep tabs on my fellow Bostonians.  So yeah, when I get bucketed into the “crap-it’s-another-marketer-following-me” category I do feel annoyed and a bit bummed out.  

And while I really love my work in marketing and communications and look for every effort to apply my knowledge of social media (which is extensive because I’ve been entrenched in the Web and technology for so many years), I can’t say I’m an “expert” in social media. 

Because I don’t think anyone CAN be an “expert” in social media. Why?

1. Because it changes all the time. 
2. Populations and demographics of any particular site are growing and changing the way the medium is used.
3. New technologies are popping out of the woodwork at a rate that is impossible to keep up with.
4. Using the various new media technologies and social media properties may yield different results for different people or organizations…there are far too many factors (and people involved) to make results consistent. 
5. People control the medium, not companies, which means that while organizations can try and shape reactions to their work in social media, there ultimately is, no control over it. 
6. And going back to #4, it means there is no right or wrong. 

I can say I’m an expert in other things and that I am passionate about social media and how that applies to those other areas in which I’m an expert, but I think that if anyone is saying they are an “expert” in social media itself, you should definitely raise an eyebrow or two.

UPDATED 4/3/09 with this great link: “You’re Not a Social Media Expert Because I’m the Only Social Media Expert

Related articles by Zemanta

• The social media agency bunfight (thisisherd.com)
• Taking Back Social Media (mightyinteractive.com)

Tagged as: communications, marketing, public relations, social media, social media expert, Social network, twitter