Are You a Social Media Expert

Social Media, as I’ve said here before, is taking over the world.  Literally.  If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest country in the world.  Twitter has well over 75 million users and is growing at an astounding rate.  Organizations and individuals are taking advantage of these platforms and the way community is done is being transformed.  With this massive growth, I notice a lot of “experts” on both FB and Twitter.  I’m always skeptical when people refer to themselves as an expert.  Especially when it comes to Social Media.  I sent out a tweet once to the effect of, “What does it mean to be a ‘social media expert’?  Does that mean you are highly gifted in updating your status on various free websites?”  So I’ve created a list, or a scorecard if you will, to determine if you are, in fact, a Social Media Expert.

1. Have you sent a tweet? Yes: +1  No: Get started, there’s still time
2. Have you ever updated a Facebook status?  Yes: +1   No: Ok, you’re a little behind.
3. Have you ever written a blog post?  Yes: +1  No: No worries, not that big of a deal
4. Have you ever communicated with somebody on Twitter or FB?  Yes: +1  No: You’re missing out
5. You still don’t know what the heck I’m talking about?  Yes: Sorry, China sucks.

If you scored 3 or more then you, my friend, are a Social Media Expert.  Seriously.  It’s not about having 15,000 followers on Twitter or 587 friends on Facebook.  It is not a numbers game.  Numbers just clutter up for feed with unnecessary updates.  It’s a relationship game.  And if you have interacted with people on Twitter and/or Facebook, then you’re in.  Here’s the thing about Social Media.  It is like The Church.  Everybody can play.  Everybody is welcome.  Everybody is valuable, whether you sent your first tweet this morning or if you’ve been on Facebook from the beginning.  There are no guidelines, other than be yourself.  That’s it.  Be you, use it in the way that benefits you best (make sure you are giving and receiving), and run with it.

What do you think about Social Media ”experts?”  Are you one?