There is quite a lot of chat going on about the amount of self-proclaimed Social Media 
experts popping up on Twitter right now. I wasn’t horribly surprised when I read that the number of (for the sake of this post I’m going to call them Social Media Pros or SMPS) had exploded from 4,487 to nearly 16,000 in just seven months – check out B.L. Ochman’s blog.
If you are a SMP (or if at least that is how you want to make a name for yourself), of course you will be doing it on Twitter. Go to a conference about the adverse affects of smoking and I’d expect you would find more than a few health professionals. From time to time I experience a sensation others tell me is known as “common sense”. Right now it’s telling me not all the SMPs on Twitter are actually legit; but it is fair to expect an over-representation on one of the most popular SM platforms.
The thing that really jumped out at me about the new spate of SMPs was the names that some of these aficionados give themselves…The first is the SM Guru. Fair to say the Gurus already get the flack they probably deserve online. Watch the video below to see what I’m talking about. (sorry about the language).
I do like the term “Social Media Ninja” though. If you are going to give yourself a ridiculous title you might as well make it hilarious. I feel as if not all 79 of these Ninjas are just having fun with it. I’d say some do actually think their social media savvy is Ninja-esque . The question is would you seriously employ someone that claimed to be a Ninja to work on you SM strategy? I wouldn’t.
On a more constructive note the stats did get me to thinking about what it means to be a social media expert, and what allows someone to call themselves that? Obviously having a formal qualification would be a start. Funnily enough a quick Google search told me Birmingham City University is now offering a masters course in the field. Master of social media, is that cooler than being a Ninja? Na. I do enjoy the Q and A section of the Birmingham site: “Become a social media consultant (and understand what that means)”. If you can’t work that one out perhaps you should rethink enrolment in a post-graduate program?
So in the future there WILL be qualified social media “experts”. But how do the current mix earn their stripes? Experience? Trial and error? Who knows really. I’m betting the majority are far less proficient than they claim to be. As I’ve mentioned in other posts I believe SM is just one element of the marketing mix. Just as there has been advertising experts in marketing for decades, now you get SM experts too. Over time the actual “gurus” will emerge and the pretenders will hopefully find some other fad bandwagon to jump on, or off.
