Comments on: You Are Not A Social Media Guru, Ninja, Expert, Master, (Enter Title Here)

By: Lauren Vargas

Lauren Vargas — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:36:25 +0000

Not sure certification is the answer. As you stated, social media is not new, but how we are connecting is constantly evolving. Self education is important and will set you a part from the pretenders. Thank you for the shout out!

Lauren Vargas
Community Manager at Radian6
@VargasL

By: Kevin D Mackey

Kevin D Mackey — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:34:20 +0000

Just stumbled upon your great post via LinkedIn. It made me smile. Thanks Jason!

By: Jason Yormark

Jason Yormark — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:09:42 +0000

Good points. I definitely agree with track record. The challenge there is because SM marketing is so new, there are lots of small businesses that don't know what to look for in a seasoned SM marketer. They can be “fooled” quite easily by someone who has just built a large following.

By: Scott Ellis

Scott Ellis — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:45:12 +0000

Jason,

Good post and good topic. I'm not sure that I agree that certification is the way to go because almost anyone can take a class, study for a test and have an “academic” understanding of Social Media. But Social Media isn't like getting cert that says you can set up a Network which requires knowledge but is a much more “mechanical” exercise. There is more “art” and less technical in Social Media and I think it's a talent that can only be developed through experience. To be clear, there are plenty of mechanics to Social Media but that is really the easy stuff and all a lot of the so-called experts are basing their “expertise” on.
Instead, I would look at other things like track record, what a so called expert actually does on their own social media channels and a host of other things that are more informative than someone with another set of initials after their name.

More thoughts at : http://www.vsellis.com/social-media/what-is-a-s...

By: Jason Yormark

Jason Yormark — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:29:17 +0000

Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I cringe everytime I see it.

By: Jason Yormark

Jason Yormark — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:28:25 +0000

I agree that certification can often be just a means to raise a few bucks, but I don't think that applies all the time. In this case I think something would be better then nothing, and would help weed out some of the pretenders.

By: carleecorn

carleecorn — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:45:36 +0000

I just discovered your blog, and im glad I did. Your post made me laugh! I've never heard anyone call themselves a social media NINJA…some terrifying “marketers” out there!

By: chuqui

chuqui — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:54:37 +0000

certification? to me, certificatio is the enabling of a bureauracy who creates standardized tests and charges you money so you can put something on your business card that shows you can pass standardized tests and pay them money every year for continuing education credits.

I've generally found that certification has very little real-world correlation wth someone being good at doing the task; paying fees and passing tests designed to be passed (otherwise, they won't pay the fees!) doesn't really prove you know how to do something….