Wesley83's Blog

Wesley Faulkner's personal blog. (wesley83 on twitter)

  • Home
  • About Me
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Tags
    • Autopost

    Stop scapegoating "social media experts"!

    I am going through the SXSW PanelPicker for interactive. There are a lot of descriptions talking about "so called social media experts". Some talk about how social media experts tell you to engage, but not what to do after that. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a social media expert. Social media experts don't talk about measurement.

    Can we stop it already? Do we talk about the so called computer sales people at Best Buy? No we don't, and the reason we don't is because we know that there are fakers in every industry. How many of us in our work history have had bosses that had no clue what they were doing? I know I have had my fair share. I am begging everyone, please stop calling crappy practitioners social media experts.

    There are plenty of naysayers out there that still don't buy into the practical benefits that social media can bring. Why reinforce those beliefs by highlighting the worst of us and giving them more exposure. Let's not criticize our peers, but instead concentrate on educating our clients, and hopefully it will rub off on everyone. In social media there is no us and them, there is only us and us. Bringing down our peers, perceived or actual, brings us all down.

    • 22 August 2010
    • Views
    • 11 Comments
    • Permalink
    • Tweet
    • 11 responses
    • Like
    • Comment
    almost 2 years ago Darin Kirschner responded:
    Darin Kirschner
    I agree Wesley. At this early point in the growth arc of SM, people shouldn't be eating each other. There is a kind of elitism beginning to crop up in an industry that proports to be "FOR everyone, BY everyone." SO there are NOOBS who claim more than they practice... SO WHAT? Is THAT supposed to be an epiphany? "WOW! There are people calling themselves 'Pros" who haven't a clue!"

    When the rubber meets the road, the professionals who actually know that they are doing will show their mettle. No worries.

    almost 2 years ago Wesley Faulkner responded:
    Wesley Faulkner
    @gregorywschultz I would say that most people that go to SXSWi don't call themselves experts. Here is the link: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com
    almost 2 years ago Sherry Lowry responded:
    Sherry Lowry
    For starters, just a tiny bit of due diligence which is totally simple to do on the internet defrocks posers (about much of anything) immediately.

    When a field also assumes "followers" or web-presence to support credibility, it's even more obvious who has none such.

    I'm with you, Wesley! Let's put our time, energy, and creativity into what works and make the high roads double-obvious through all this era - vs pointing out what's not part of it.

    almost 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:
    Wesley - excellent point.
    almost 2 years ago Sarah Vela responded:
    Sarah Vela
    YES. WHAT YOU SAID. YES.
    almost 2 years ago Sarah Vela liked this post.
    almost 2 years ago sameder (Twitter) responded:
    Img_0542_normal
    Not only do I disagree, but I think all this social media "expert" bashing is good for our field. Guess what? Social media as we know it today is in its infancy. Just because we're early adopters doesn't make us experts. There are few people in the entire world who either have deep experience or have done the amount of research to even qualify as an expert in this field.

    So, yeah, it does drive me crazy to hear people call themselves experts. Let's face the facts, the vast majority of us are SM practitioners. We're still learning. We're not writing the next version of "Groundswell" and/or we don't have enough clout to move markets based on reputation alone. Until then, we can't call ourselves experts.

    For those of us who are calling ourselves experts, I will argue that you are doing the industry a disservice by setting a dangerous level of expectations, that- in the failure to fully deliver upon- paints everyone who works in social media in a negative light.

    Instead, call yourself a social media marketer/strategist/evangelist/waterboy/ect and scoff at anyone who is calling themselves an expert and doesn't deserve it. Send snarky articles to about it to your clients or bosses. Drive home the point that this is a field that is still evolving and any claim of expert status should be treated false until proven otherwise. It is the best way for us to reset market expectations and help us, as an industry, progress.

    In the meantime, let's progress our field through our own actions, as well. Get behind efforts to create a social media code of ethics that will further create a distinction between real practitioners and snake oil salesmen. Measure your own successes, figure out how to replicate them to other projects, distill those points, back up your moves with data, rinse, wash, repeat. Maybe by the time we've all done this, we'll have enough chops to call ourselves experts and for that to mean something.

    almost 2 years ago Wesley Faulkner responded:
    Wesley Faulkner
    @sameder: I think in some ways you are agreeing with me. Let's have a call and I'll record it. I will post it as an audio follow-up to this post.
    almost 2 years ago sameder (Twitter) responded:
    Img_0542_normal
    We agree on the problem but not the solution. Let's do this!
    almost 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:
    Rather than engage in the social media snake oil meme (http://dach.is/7O), I'm taking a different tactic and proposing that we talk at SXSW about pulling principles of social (media and all) into the big companies where to work to make our work lives easier.

    Would appreciate comments and thumbs up if you're feeling it. http://dach.is/7K

    Let me know when the Freddie Blassie cage match shakes out. I will hold the key.

    almost 2 years ago sameder (Twitter) responded:
    Img_0542_normal
    And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why @bmenell is such an amazing pro!

  • Wesley Faulkner's Space

    Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development. His passion for technology was fostered through over thirteen years of experience in technical and customer service support, field engineering, and digital media entertainment development.

    Archive

    2012 (6)
    May (1)
    April (3)
    March (1)
    February (1)
    2011 (58)
    December (1)
    November (5)
    October (6)
    September (5)
    August (5)
    July (2)
    June (2)
    May (4)
    April (1)
    March (6)
    February (7)
    January (14)
    2010 (336)
    December (3)
    November (8)
    October (20)
    September (28)
    August (38)
    July (36)
    June (44)
    May (24)
    April (27)
    March (45)
    February (35)
    January (28)
    2009 (169)
    December (31)
    November (52)
    October (31)
    September (28)
    August (23)
    July (4)

  • About Wesley Faulkner

    Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development. His passion for technology was fostered through over thirteen years of experience in technical and customer service support, field engineering, and digital media entertainment development.

  • Subscribe via RSS

  • Sites I Like

    • Wesley Faulkner (@wesley83) on Twitter
    • Wesley Faulkner | LinkedIn
    • Wesley Faulkner - Google+
    • Wesley Faulkner (wesley83) on Pinterest

    Follow Me

      TwitterFacebookLaconi.ca/Identi.caLinkedInPlurkFriendfeedBuzzPicasaFlickrViddlerYoutubeVimeoTumblrDeliciousLivejournalBloggermetaweblog

Theme created for Posterous by Obox