What is a ‘Social Media Guru’ ?
My friend Ben raised a point in his comments on my last post about social media Guru’s and although I was going to reply later this week my brain is moved to discuss this now, so here I go:
It’s an interesting question isn’t it, what makes someone an expert? Skill, interest, Otaku, obsession when do we call someone an expert, a Guru? As a teacher I always find this an interesting question as students frequently view me as an expert in my field…my answer is simple: I’m 25 the only thing I am an expert at is being me, for now I’m just a guy who knows more than you, if I do my job well that will change!
But in the wider world what is a Guru an expert?
There are many definitions of an expert on the web my favourite comes from Virgil the ancient Greek Philosopher who said:
‘Believe one who has proved it. Believe an expert.’
I like this definition because as an entrepreneur I make frequent use of specialists (experts in tight fields) to help me advance my ideas from accountants to web designers I find people who have done amazing / creative things in their field and bring them in to work with me – how do I judge their expertise? Simple I look at their work – I Google them check out their online info, get recommendations build a picture of their expertise, this takes time but in this way I can be sure they have the knowledge and skills to help me solve my problems.
So if that’s an expert what’s a Guru? Semantically I hate the use of the term Guru to describe an expert but in the terms we are discussing a Guru must be someone who is a leader in their field… for me the most practical example of this is Seth Godin his revolutionary ideas in marketing has challenged the way an entire discipline thinks, I base all my marketing teaching on his work, he is more than an expert he sets new boundaries and for me that’s a Guru someone who really defines or re-defines a field.
This rambling brings us neatly (I am ever neat) to the question we kicked off with…what makes a Social Media Guru? Are there really any?
So many people at the moment are setting themselves up as ‘social media experts’ and charging fortunes in consultancy to ‘coach’ people on their lives in social media but as some authors have pointed out this is a very dangerous marketing pitch, let’s examine why:
I defined an expert as someone with a proven track record of excellence in their industry, what does it take to do that in social media? Set up a few accounts on different sites? A free blog? Get rated on Digg? The boundaries to calling yourself an expert are so low it’s ridiculous; almost all of the information you need to do this can be found on other blogs or now even in books… unless you have a truly amazing new take on the medium what you have said will have been said by someone else more eloquently than you… and that assumes you attempt originality; most of the so-called experts in the market today are plagiarists using other people’s ideas.
I think this quote by FDR sums up the problems with social media experts:
“There are as many opinions as there are experts.”
Most of the people out there marketing themselves as social media Guru’s as just re-using the real industry leader’s ideas… you want to know how to find a real social media Guru, look for the guys who don’t need to call themselves one the guys who kicked of blogging or make real impact on the web using social media and web 2.0, these guys don’t market their services or offer you great deals, they give real advice because they have a passion for the medium and are always innovating what they offer, However I am not going to give you a list of my top Guru’s for one reason, the last reason in this post.
A Guru is personal, they guys who I follow, read and enjoy are not the same as the ones you will look up to – but when choosing yours follow my basic rule, look for the guys in front, follow innovation and keep an eye on what they are asking from you.
If you get involved in the conversation, who knows one day you might be see as the next Social Media Guru…I just hope think about what that means…
Peace
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’ve thought about blogging on this topic for a while. I find it amusing that so many self appointed gurus on any subject appear on Twitter….most commonly social of the social media type and typically under 30 years of age.
Gurus are rare, they are not self appointed and they are seldom less than 30 years old because they haven’t accumulated enough experience in life to qualify as one.
Beware of false Gurus!
All the best,
Mark