The Social Media Expert Plague

Geoff Livingston posted an interesting thought on The Buzz Bin today that got me thinking a bit; well lets admit it, got me ranting a bit. The emergence of this “social media” expert is becoming a plague on the web community; it is actually stunting the potential growth from areas of much promise like Washington, D.C. (where both Geoff and I live/work). Geoff asks, “Is it really any wonder that corporate PR and marketing people are struggling to adapt to social media?” I think it is a great question to be asking; one at which I wish those lagging behind in that industry would look to ask and answer.

Below is my comment to Geoff and his thought provoking piece; I felt it worth re-posting on my own blog as it has become a topic of much intrigue to myself in recent months; as this “plague” is growing ever more rapidly.

It is more than adapting to social media, it is a fundamental shift in how these departments’ work and function. Traditional PR and Advertising as a part of Marketing has been a one way conversations (television is very much a one way communication medium — I can’t talk back to the TV); and what they are struggling to grasp is the concept of the “conversational web”. It isn’t about being a part of social media; having a Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or Pownce account does nothing for your business (the exposure is relatively small). It is about being a part of the conversation that is important. It is about knowing what conversation you are a part of and how to participate in that conversation.

The Social Media platforms are dying a slow (repeat, very slow — ask anyone gaining more and more annoyance with Twitter spam) death and it is primarily attributed to the misunderstanding of how to be a part of this conversational web. Many “social media experts” will do something silly like utilize the social event sharing sites to post the same event to multiple services. Again, the thinking is exposure … but the misstep is that these services are conversational and the expectation from the audience is a conversation … but the organizer just posts an event up like a flyer on a street poll. They don’t stay to be a part of the conversation and they never come back to take down the flyer … it just sits there and the social web is becoming like a sad tree in a busy New York City street; overwhelmed and dated with the staples of yesterdays post.

This emergence of the social media expert who doesn’t yet understand the conversational space they are in is much like the telemarketers of yesterday. They remain in business and continue to flourish because as annoying as it is the most of us, the sad reality is that every so often someone picks up that phone and actually purchases what they are selling; making it a numbers game. But that keeps the rest of us nervous to pick up a call from an unknown number and annoyed when the family dinner is disrupted with a call to replace my windows.

Social Media is not about exposure, it is not about easily accessing of information … those are things that are about the web in general. Social Media is about a conversation. If you are not a part of the conversation, you are just noise in an already crowded and cluttered space.

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