Who Are The REAL Social Media Experts?

"The Social Media "Frontier" if I can call it that, is a vast playing field. From Community Experts, to Blog Consultants to the RSS Guru's... I could go on forever..."

This morning I was doing my usual "information snacking" using my favorite tool on the planet "Snackr" when I came across a Blog Post that was written over at the labs at Read Write Web. The blog post was covering "Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Value". This instantly caught my eye because of two reasons 1. I wanted to see who they pulled from the literally thousands of people who carry their own weight, 2. I wanted to see what the field of "authentic" Consultants looked like so early in the game. Reason #2 is what I really want to hit on in this Blog Post BUT I have to delve into #1 as well - THOUGH I know it may get me in some trouble.

Over the last 24 months we have all seen an emergence of information pertaining to the Social Media space. We have seen companies popping up everywhere - my agency even being added to that mix, all claiming to be the "Lords of Social Media" "Guru's" and "Experts". This concerns me, because at this stage of the game - WHO can authentically say they have it all figured out? AND who can say that their theories and ideals ARE THE ideals that will re-shape or even shape how a brand will perform in such a young space? Now - without a doubt, Social Media is here to stay. And even as I typed that statement, I realized that again - THAT was an assumption. If you follow my writing at all or if you have come into contact with any of my past work - you KNOW that I am a Social Media Evangelist all the way - BUT I can honestly say that I do not have it all figured out. I can indeed speak to you intelligently, and even elegantly about how I "feel" Social Media will indeed transform the world BUT that's only my take on the matter. We as Industry Professionals have not lived out the Social Life Cycle LONG enough to authentically produce the solid "goods" on what works. Let's be real about it.

I get literally 3 - 5 emails a day asking me to beta new Social Media tool that will change the whole way we do things. Some of the tools are hyped versions of tools that are already on play - and SOME are totally innovative, BUT this is not the point here... THREE to FIVE is and at a rate like that - WHO can keep up with all the static without playing "favvy's" or being "partial" to the mix? We can probably all agree that Twitter has made a HUGE dent in the game, and Facebook is building momentum (a lil lost with the re-design) - BUT at the end of the day... It's literally impossible to tag "Expert Status" to any of it.

So this raises the question... Is Social Media going to be yet another paradox in the whole - "Its not what you know but WHO you know" trilogy? Are the "Powers to Be" going to formulate who they feel are "The Experts" early on - and indeed locking out some of the new and up-coming Pioneers who are truly doing the real research behind the Social Media scenes - building yet another class of "Experts" that you have to "rub shoulders with" to get into the game? I really hope not...

The big question is this... Are the "Social Media Experts" NOW saying anything different than the "Social Media Enthusiast" at this point that clearly defines them as Experts? Are there enough case studies in anybody's portfolio that substantiates them as being the "Elite" in such a young field? So my question -

Who are the REAL Social Media Experts?

I could rattle off a whole list of people that I personally "like" in fact a couple of them are on the Read Write Web post "Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Value" - BUT that would be a highly opinionated view of the bigger picture. Yes - the article says ".... That Deliver Value" - BUT we all know what that means in the Social Media World, in fact let's get down to it, it could have easily read "Seven Social Media Consultants That You Can Trust" and that's where all of this gets real relevant.

So now that I have "ranted", let me conclude with this - because I know it's going to be a long day after this post... The Social Media space is still being defined. Social Media is still in it's early periods - we are all still feeling our way through. Some are feeling faster than others, and some are reaching deeper into the shift, revealing the connections between Metaverse interactions and Social Media, the true implications of Web 2.0 and Social Media, The Personal Brand and Social Media, Social Media and the Enterprise - sheeez - I could go on and on... So before we start making trying to reveal the true Value Leaders in a space that's still proving it's value, we may need to get some big wins under our belts, NOW THATS VALUE. Heck I wanna meet the team that put Barack Obama's Socail Media Campaign together - NOW THAT'S V A L U E...