Are You A Social Media Expert?

(There's an update at the end)

This is a trick question.

You cannot answer it by yourself.

Unlike certain professions that require you to attain a degree or certification based on learning and passing tests that proclaim you have the background training in those professions, we don't have that in the social media world.

I believe only others can give you that "expert" crown.

And it depends on who those others are and what their own level of expertise is.

So as you wander into this social media world, beware of the self proclaimed experts.

Instead, look at what they have done, and what they are doing and see how it compares to what you want to do in the social media world.

Personally, I prefer to be a mentor, teacher, trainer, inspirer, motivator,and equiper than a self-proclaimed expert.

As I said to some friends this week, one definition of an expert is a former pert.

Whatever that is..

Image from http://www.freewebs.com/dlfordivinelegacy/rk.htm

Update on 5/24/11:

The past couple of days the Twitterverse that I hang out with has been debating the Social Media EXPERT title.

My friend Kevin Mullett finally spoke out on it with a video which you can watch here: http://www.kevinmullett.com/the-term-social-media-expert-overused-over-vilified/

Another friend, Anthony Juliano wrote about it too: http://anthonyjuliano.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/why-youll-never-hear-me-refer-to-myself-as-a-social-media-expert/

And another friend sent his 2 cents in an email:

One of my problems with the self-proclaimed "expert" or "guru" is the lack of humility. While some truly great leaders refer to themselves this way, I disagree with it, and I find humility in a leader to be one the most valuable assets one can have. In some fields, the posturing of one's image through superficial titles is broadly shunned. The term implies that one knows all there is to know, and whether that's an accurate definition or not, the stigma is still there. In fields like marketing, SEO, and social media, where so many frauds abuse this term to trick people, true professionals do well by steering away from such cliche and abused titles.

Thanks for the great contribution, Scott!

------------------------------Josh Humble



Thanks Josh for your comments too, (Yes, that really is his last name!)