One of the analogies to email is only part right. Email is generally considered private communication. Most of the rest of social media can be anything from private to public. To the extent social is for private groups and people can figure it out for themselves, the term social media expert will eventually have virtually no relevancy. To the extent that it becomes a specialized bit of knowledge within marketing, or to the extent it takes over many marketing/pr/sales functions, the title may prove to have some long term relevancy. However, even then someone at a PR firm using these tools might not prefer to brand themselves as a social media expert, but remain simply a public relations expert so as not to limit themselves.

I think the system as a larger whole will eventually consolidate as people will get tired of doing different social functions in different online programs and the programs themselves will likely add features/links/partnerships with other programs. So eventually (And I have no idea how long) I think social media will be about as simple (or confusing) as email.

I think we are in the early phase of a new technology implementation, which always start with a lot of confusion. Where there is confusion, there are consultants. If that concept is true, things will really begin to simplify when we get to about 50% implementation because some of the poorly implemented ideas will start to fall away and momentum will build behind the winners. The next shakeout will happen at 90%. Some argue the dot com bust was the end of 10-50% part of the cycle of the 50-90% part of the cycle. However, it will likely not be clear-cut because “implementation” can mean a variety of things depending on how you or your company intend to use the space. We are just beginning to see how it will be used.

One of the analogies to email is only part right. Email is generally considered private communication. Most of the rest of social media can be anything from private to public. To the extent social is for private groups and people can figure it out for themselves, the term social media expert will eventually have virtually no relevancy. To the extent that it becomes a specialized bit of knowledge within marketing, or to the extent it takes over many marketing/pr/sales functions, the title may prove to have some long term relevancy. However, even then someone at a PR firm using these tools might not prefer to brand themselves as a social media expert, but remain simply a public relations expert so as not to limit themselves.

I think the system as a larger whole will eventually consolidate as people will get tired of doing different social functions in different online programs and the programs themselves will likely add features/links/partnerships with other programs. So eventually (And I have no idea how long) I think social media will be about as simple (or confusing) as email.

I think we are in the early phase of a new technology implementation, which always start with a lot of confusion. Where there is confusion, there are consultants. If that concept is true, things will really begin to simplify when we get to about 50% implementation because some of the poorly implemented ideas will start to fall away and momentum will build behind the winners. The next shakeout will happen at 90%. Some argue the dot com bust was the end of 10-50% part of the cycle of the 50-90% part of the cycle. However, it will likely not be clear-cut because “implementation” can mean a variety of things depending on how you or your company intend to use the space. We are just beginning to see how it will be used.

Poor spelling and extreme brevity brought to you by iPhone.

http://www.davemadethat.com

Simply owning a Twitter and Facebook page doesn't necessarily qualify one as an expert. Additionally – being a good writer or journalist doesn't exactly fit the mold of an on-line marketer. Which is exactly what Social Media is… (for a business), a way to market to clients/partners/etc.. via interaction and engagement.

yet another 2 cents…

Damian
http://www.JDScreative.com/

While Social Media is legitimately effective, there is a more practical reason why it has become the sexy news story of Internet marketing: How do you make an exciting piece for the evening news about multivariate testing, increasing ROI on a PPC account, or the proper application of keyword density? But showing someone on their iphone and coming up with fancy variants for Twitter, makes for good twopy.

So for now, we're seeing a rush of people who want to incorporate Internet marketing into their strategy; but haven't been exposed to anything beyond these buzzwords. So, in rush the scam artists as well.

I feel bad for legit talent like Dave—he will probably end up spending a lot of time educating clients who are making their first leap into Internet marketing.

I expect to see my own wave, when SEO becomes the hot item; but I'm not sure it's worth it. Just ask Vanilla Ice. I’d prefer it if SEO ends up being the Don Henley of Internet marketing.

At the end of the day, I still say that we are moving in to an integration model; where an adept IM will have to be well versed in all forms and have the connections to draw in the best combination of talent, for each particular client/project. It will definitely be a fun ride, no matter where it ends up.

The Google Whisperer,

Matthew Freeman
http://www.nashvilleseo.info