You can call me a lot of things, but please don’t call me an expert
Recently I had someone refer to me as an expert, telling a client, “He’s our social influence expert.”
In response to a request for information, someone else declared, “We’ll bring in our expert to talk to you about Twitter.”
Yikes.
Yes it does say something on my business card about social media, but the last thing I would ever call myself is an expert. Or guru. Or thought leader.
Webster’s defines expert this way: “one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject.” The emphasis isn’t on skilled, or knowledgeable; it’s on mastery. That’s pretty hard to achieve in the land of social media, which despite the recent gold rush, has barely been mined. Never mind that there are new platforms, technologies and communities being created every day. Or that no one can predict what will become the next big viral hit. Or that we still haven’t even seen the most innovative uses of Twitter’s API.
The real reason it’s impossible to be an expert is that no one knows what constitutes expertise in this space. What do you have to master? SEO? Technology? Platforms? Creativity? Content creation? Community? Service? Relationship?
If you know the answer to that you’re way ahead of me. I prefer to be called one of the other “e” words: enthusiast, explorer, experimenter. Maybe I should put that on my business card.
What do you think? Is it possible to master social media? (If you like some of what you see here, you can subscribe with the non-orange RSS button up at the top right corner of this page. Thanks for stopping by.)
Comments
Keith:
Looks like we're in violent agreement. Two non-experts trying to stay that way.
It says alot about someone when they are comfortable with not being called an expert. A wise man once said that the more we learn the more we realize we don't know. Proclaiming status as expert is usually a good sign of pride and ignorance.
I'm with you. I'm an expert in nothing. I prefer enthusiast and evangelist.
.-= Keithu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Recommended Reading for Aug 18 =-.
Edward, e.e. cummings wrote a poem (one of my favorites) called "all ignorance toboggans in know." The poem asserts that we actually strive for ignorance with statements such as "here are the five causes of World War II" in an effort to demonstrate expertise, only to slide down the hill to knowledge again once such an assertion is soundly dis-proven. By admitting our challenges (as you suggested) and not being concerned with posturing ourselves as experts, we might actually learn something.
.-= Leo Bottaryu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Client Service And Trust =-.
Arik -
While I agree that this is largely a conversation around semantics, I put a little bit more value around Edward's point.
The discussion started because people were claiming social media expertise once they posted a couple of times on twitter - this is inappropriate and misleading. As thematic as this has become, having this conversation encourages humility and authenticity. People can certainly have false humility, but I don't think Edward is being self-deprecating. He's pointing out that even though he IS way ahead of the curve, even he can't, in good conscience, claim expertise in such a dynamic segment of our industry.
The February 8, 2008 issue of Fast Company had this paragraph to open an article titled "No one knows whey they're doing."
"The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown." -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
You can stop pretending you know what you're doing. I know you're making everything up as you go (hoping nobody notices). It's OK though - that's not where your problems are coming from. Rather, your problems are coming from the fact that you think other people know what they're doing. It's an illusion that's wreaking havoc in your life. It's causing you to doubt yourself. It's causing you to hide your challenges from others. It's even paralyzing you at times. No one else knows what they're doing either. They're making everthing up too. Relax into your ignorance. Open up. Experiment.
Love the parachute metaphor. I suppose one can call themselves an expert skydiver until the day the chute doesn't open. In our business, I've always felt you should never take too much credit or too much blame for the final results. (You're not in it alone!) And of course, never call yourself an expert. If you run into people who refers to themselves as experts, they're usually far from it.
.-= Leo Bottaryu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Client Service And Trust =-.
You're the first person to comment on the photo. Appreciate that. To me just looked like a bunch of alleged experts who had no idea what they were actually doing.
non-orange RSS button? shame on you. what's next a yellow stop sign? thanks for serving this one up.
http://smog.typepad.com/smogtalk/2009/05/webinar-1...
peace.
.-= David Breznauu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Focus, People! =-.
I'm not a huge fan of orange. Who picked that color anyway?
Once you get into a pursuit, you'll often see "expert," or "guru" is usually temporary. From my competitive days at USA Canoe/Kayak, athletes are often divided into two levels - "Development" and "National Team/Elite." You'd work super hard to get to "National Team/Elite." The funny thing is that once you get there, it finally hits you - you're ALWAYS a development athlete.
The world could use a few less superlatives and few more people just striving to be better.
Joe:
I think your example is true across many endeavors. It's always the case. As soon as you think you know anything, you realize you know far less than you imagined. Happens when you graduate college, after you get your first promotion, the first time you're asked to give a speech about business or industry. Basically means you can never settle or rest on laurels past. And perhaps more importantly that you constantly find people from whom you can learn new things.
Part of this is about how you position yourself to clients, honestly and authentically. Call yourself an expert and you are basically misleading a client. Explain to them that you are not, and why (because no one is, because it's too new, because it changes every day, etc.) and you are actually doing them a service right out of the gate, educating them as to how they should think about it themselves, making them feel less intimidate by others with more experience, allowing them to feel comfortable with their own limited frame of reference. I think the real point of avoiding the label is to do what we are all supposed to do in SM: be authentic, transparent, and open minded.
I agree with Arik here...ties in with my "problem with personal branding". Doesn't matter what you call yourself or what anyone calls you. What matters is the value that you provide.
Regardless of the actual definition, people look at the term "expert" as a relative term. Some may view you as an expert, some may not. In the end the title doesn't matter. What matters is what you learn and do.
@DavidSpinks
.-= David Spinksu00c2u00b4s last blog ..A Social Response to Corporate Indecency =-.
I'm kind of tired of the whole "who's an expert?" debate. Honestly, it's exhausting. I understand your concern, Edward, but in all reality you are an expert. You are ahead of the curve. You know more than a ton of people. And those folks look to you for help. Now, that doesn't mean you stop learning--we're all out here learning each day. But, I think we all (myself included) need to all stop wasting time talking about who's an expert and who isn't and just focus on the task at hand: learning and working in this incredibly new and dynamic space.
@arikhanson
.-= Arik Hansonu00c2u00b4s last blog ..The u00e2u0080u009chow tou00e2u0080u009d behind Follow Friday =-.
Arik:
About time someone showed up here a little grumpy and disagreeable. And while I agree with you a little bit, the real reason to eschew the label of expert is to assure that you don't, in fact, stop learning, experimenting, screwing up and getting jealous when someone else does it better.
"Master" social media? Absurd. Impossible. And part of its allure and charm. Heck, we can't even agree on a shared definition of social media! IF I were to choose a grandiose title for myself relative to social media strategy and implementation, it would be: CCO (Chief Curiosity Office).
.-= Meredith Gouldu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Talking trash =-.
Meredith:
Darn it. Wishing someone would show up here and argue with me. Guess not on this one. Agree with your comment and like your title. In fact I've had in the back of my mind another post about "who will I learn from next," which is another cool thing about social media.
I think it was Mark Twain who said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and social media experts."
.-= Jonathan Fields, Social Media Spongeu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Why I Hope the Free Brigade Got It Wrong =-.
The title should be strategist because you are learning how to use social media in a strategy to create influence in the given field. Plus, you are using tools of technology to change the way people see things and think and how things are being used.
.-= Jamie Favreauu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Can you help one person stay in Detroit? =-.
Nope! I am 'insatiably curious' - with persistance but without satisfaction :)
.-= Seth Hoskou00c2u00b4s last blog ..On Brand Strategy =-.
Seth:
We are in vehement agreement. Ever check some of the bio/profiles of people on Twitter? Must be 5000 sm "gurus" out there. Glad to see you're not one of them.
It really gets sickening to hear people talk about how great they are in a particular space.
No one is an expert in social media. I could maybe buy it if you were an expert in say, History. There is always someone who is smarter than you think you are. An insatiably curious learner and participant is more accurate, as its constantly evolving faster than you can keep up.
Bottom line is, its much more attractive to confess that you are contantly learning than to say how great you are.. no one is going to care, or even buy that kind of attitude within something as quickly changing as social media. If you're great, everyone will know it without you saying so. Keep learning.
.-= Seth Hoskou00c2u00b4s last blog ..On Brand Strategy =-.
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