Why Social Media Experts Hate Being Called Experts

 

If you ever want to get a rise out of a social media expert, call her one. Seriously, try it. Do it on Twitter or their blog or in person... and what you'll get will range from mild "oh please!" to downright frustration verging on anger. In fact, it's quite en vogue to practice humility when tagged as a social media expert. If you Google the phrase "I'm not a social media expert" you'll get over 4,800 results. Now, not all of them are blog posts about how "I don't think I'm a social media expert" but a quick sampling of hits will show you that a good many are about this topic.

At first, you might think that it's just humility. I mean, boastfulness isn't really liked in the Social Media World and Social Media strategy consultants are quick to discount those that practice the art of self-spin. But I think it goes deeper than just humility.

I wonder if maybe, just maybe social media consultants deplore being tagged as social media experts because in the words of Nicholas Murray Butler, an expert is defined as one who knows more and more about less and less. Or maybe it is because to become an expert, one has to master the past. After all, we deem humans an expert in something usually because they have studied it to a point of mastery.

Yet, as we all know, communications change. The art of communication, the manner of communication and lastly, the technology of communication changes constantly. Therefore, to be deemed a social media expert would seem to suggest that you have mastered all that there is to know about the subject today.

And that is what I'm thinking rubs the social media expert the wrong way. They don't want to be experts.

They want to be explorers. The identify with explorers more than experts. In fact, one social media expert, Jason Falls, named his blog and his company Social Media Explorer. Maybe that's why he gets a little fired up when you bring up the topic of social media experts. [be sure to watch the video half way down the post] it's classic Falls and one of the many reasons I think he rocks.

My two cents on the whole social media experts (or any other marketing experts for that matter) is that the problem with experts is that by definition they're looking the wrong damn direction. They're studying the past versus wondering about the future. [video version here] and I think that is what gets to the Social Media Experts (even if they may not realize it). They thrive on learning and sharing and growing. They never want to be experts because becoming an expert is well kind of like dying, or at least starting the process. We don't want to ever stop learning, evolving and sharing that knowledge with others that are a few steps behind us on the trail of knowledge.

Or maybe I'm just getting all esoteric because it is late and in reality, social media experts just really hate the term for some far simpler reason. What do you think? Any social media experts out there want to chime in?

photo by astuecker