Throughout the last 24 hours, word has spread quickly that the New York Times appointed Jennifer Preston as the news organization’s first Social Media Editor. As usual, the reaction to a positive and courageous first step forward into social media by a large corporation is…
My personal opinion is that the New York Times took a brave step, and they should be applauded and supported.
That said, what fascinates me about the appointment was not the appointment itself. Instead, I was fascinated more by the debate it prompted in the comment areas of all these blogs and on Twitter. The conversation has now turned to the future of individuals designated within large organizations as “social media experts” and “social media specialists.”
This is the question at the heart of the matter: is the era of the Social Media Expert drawing to a close?
For the time being, my answer to that question is a qualified “no.” I do believe that there is still a great deal of need for education and training in what social media can and cannot accomplish. I also believe there is still a huge amount of confusing hype that is hurting its adoption rate in companies both large and small. There is most definitely still a need for someone who can help cut through the clutter, provide examples and case studies of what’s worked (and what hasn’t), and demonstrate a clear-cut case of business value and ROI.
However, my belief is that by 2015-2020, social media is going to be a part of the basic skillset in which anyone who communicates for a living will have to have a decent amount of knowledge and expertise.
There is precedent for this turn of events, of course. In the mid and late 1990’s, you still had graphic designers who were exclusively “print people” and others who were exclusively “Web people.” Nowadays, it’s almost unthinkable for anyone who works in graphics communications to pigeonhole him/herself as “Print-only” or “Web-only”. Yes, there are people who make a living specialized in one area or another, but for all intents and purposes, they all work as Designers, period.
Social media is going in the same direction. Yes, you’ll have areas of specialization, but the day of “one or the other” is rapidly diminishing.
And just so nobody thinks I’m being unfair or biased, I definitely include myself as having to adapt. I am someone who has made his living as a “social media specialist” (note I didn’t say “expert”) with experience in community building. I have adapted my thinking and focusing on how it fits into the bigger picture (online and offline). Frankly, I’m preparing for the days being a “social media guy” won’t matter quite as much. I look at this as a positive development because it will mean that it’s assumed you have a basic level of expertise already. Social media will truly be a mainstream part of a more holistic marketing mix.
We will know this turn of events successfully taken place when the appointment of a social media editor won’t make headlines.
What do you think?
The word “Editor” is a giveaway. It strongly suggests he’s not a snake-oil SEO buzzword-hopping ‘consultant’, but a hands-on community building practitioner. I don’t think we’re seeing the end of the experts, just beginning to tell the difference between people who know their onions and people who just see hits and clicks and can’t get their heads around conversational metrics.
I agree with your basic premise. Give it another five years and social media will be an integrated part of media decisions.
I like the ecommerce analogy. In 1999 people thought it was special and only dotcoms could do it. By 2005, “multichannel retail” had taken over with ecommerce as a key component.
Michael, you’ve made some great points. We will have definitely made progress when we no longer think about social media as a unique skill set.
Yes. Because the terminology is effectively meaningless now. Communications professional? Not going away for awhile. But SM Expert means you are fluent in one form of communication…not good enough in my book.
Smart post, and I fundamentally agree. You see it on the analytics side in particular, where there are dozens of tools popping up just to measure Twitter or Facebook. These will absolutely be aggregated into more comprehensive analytics platforms as social media matures.
My sense is social media is going to be part of the basic skillset long before 2015-2020.
That said, I think social media experts will disappear as marketing and communications people become more social media savvy.
Mark
I’m not convinced. There will surely be a convergence of marketing and social media skillsets – but that’s already happened. In SEO, customer service, sales, traffic and analytics, social media knowledge makes one better at their job. That skillset is fundamentally different than social media as it relates to the public (or your customers if you’re B2B).
Community managers, Social Media Analytics, even developers have to think differently when they’re in the space. I imagine a lot of companies will simply incorporate the skillset, but the best ones will have small practice teams who are constantly learning, training internal personnel, and leveraging old platforms to gain new opportunities.
or not.
For what it’s worth. Every search I’ve done so far but one has been a marketing, technology, or PR search with social media as a needed skillset, and not a pure social media job, but that’s because you get paid for your past experience, and there are very few successful consultants willing to take positions at corporate rates.
I’m convinced, based on experience, that lots of folks need someone who has a demonstrated level of expertise in social media to guide and coach them on its effective use. For the neophyte, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and often difficult to know how to begin.
Whether that person is the social media strategist in a corporate environment, or free-lance consultant/coach, I believe, at least for the near-term, there is definitely a need for the specialist.
RE: Alex — “…just beginning to tell the difference between people who know their onions and people who just see hits and clicks and can’t get their heads around conversational metrics.”
It’s going to take a while before that happens. There is a shift in thinking that needs to take place. And let’s be fair — I think we as social media people have done a not-so-great job communicating and educating those metrics.
RE: Frank, Debbie, Mike — Thanks! Hugely appreciated.
RE: Jim — This will definitely take years to sort out. That’s why I played it a little safe and said 2015-2020.
RE: Paul — I completely agree with you. That’s why my answer to my own question was a qualified “no.” There is definitely still a need and a seat at the table for people or entities that educate based on experience. PR agencies, digital agencies, freelancers, corporate experts … We are nowhere near being able to call this industry “stable” or “codified.”
I definitely stand behind my larger point, though, that eventually we will see social media become a true part of the mainstream.
Our success will ultimately become the reason for our obsolescence.
And for those still reading, check out Paul’s stuff. He’s definitely someone who helps cut through the clutter. I’ve recommended people read or listen to him more times than I can remember.
First we need to establish what constitutes an “expert.” The concept is all over the park…especially as it pertains to social media or social networking.
Is the era of “expert advice and consulting” in social media dead? No. Will it ever be dead? No. Because business needs “experts” – or specialists or professionals. Just as we could, if we wanted to, build our own homes (DIY is very big) most of us do not want to.
We hire the best contractors for the job.
So it is for social media. The best will always have work. What will be interesting will be to see how social media expertise changes – and what specialities become the standard “must haves”.
I think the stereotype “social media expert” one’s reputation. Me? I’m a marketing strategist, and social media is among many means in which to communicate and cultivate relationships with stakeholders. In the same spirit, I’m not a telephone expert, nor a computer expert, nor a facsimile expert.
Got it?
Well I think it largely depends on how society changes the way they engage in marketing and how the gadgets evolve. There are general marketing skills and then there are always those that have more expertise in certain areas. I suspect that these people who are on the cutting-edge of a newer way of connecting and engaging an audience will evolve in their roles as well. Living in a place where I must use my second language makes the capabilities of how we locate things in our neighborhood more apparent. The way we find information will change with the evolution of technology, search algorithms… I think the potential for change in the digital world makes it difficult to give a definitive prediction.
Most of what we know today as Social Media will disappear because it will become part of every persons job in the work place. It will be embedded as a line item in the job description.
As far as the New York Times assigning a person to a role they should have seen coming 3 -5 years ago proves they do not have visionaries at the helm. Newspapers could have invented Google or Craigslist but didn’t, they had the resources, so why didn’t they, no vision.
I wrote about the tidal wave coming recently, the shift that is taking place in the business world at large, it’s like people are looking the other way.
The phrase, ” We The People” is becoming more real than you can possibly imagine. The Marketing world will be turned on it’s ear as individuals step up to reshape marketing and influence in our world economy.
Good Luck New York Times, you’re a day late and a dollar short!
I think the ’social media expert’ breed will die out sooner than 2015. I do a lot of consulting for Realtors, and I’m already seeing the shift of questions move from ‘what is it’ to ‘how do I use it,’ which tells me it’s already being accepted as common knowledge. It’ll be an interesting ride.
Good info. I agree that five years down the road, social media knowledge won’t be such a novelty – but we’re so far from that point. There’s a lot of people that don’t have any idea what to do with it now.
I agreed with Max that Social Media is a new set of tools hardly worth touting yourself as an expert on. Would you ever say I am an expert “Facebooker”. Not likely. But as many point out, these tools are providing a new way to engage with consumers and more importantly changing how the messages are crafted as well as delivered. It’s not enough to just understand how to use Twitter. (C’mon people it’s 140 characters and a great big “Update” button) The “expertise” has more to do with strategy. The marketing professionals that are comfortable and successful using these new tools are growing in number, as are clients that are understanding the value. Right now, those marketers who “get it” are a specialized group of consultants with a certain level of expertise primarily based solely on early adoption.
But, as Drew commented above the scale is already tipping towards acceptance of “what” this shiny object is to “how” it can help accomplish business goals.I am already seeing very traditional agencies begin to navigate how to bring PR into the social arena. In the end, smart creative strategies that effectively accomplish business goals will win out regardless of the medium.
Great post. Great comments.
I don’t know why we’re giving kudos to the NY Times or any other newspaper organization.
The truth is that companies see some roi benefit in social media and they are jumping on the bandwagon as other media outlets both print and online are closing up shop.
My second point is why is there always an argument over what a ’social media expert’ is. Each company is going to evaluate applicants based on their individual criteria anyway.
Even if the social media powers that be indicate properly what an ‘expert’ is, companies will hire who they like.
P.S. I loved the Snarky link above which is the url to the NY Times social media expert with her ‘updates’ on twitter protected. Was she a closely held secret until recently?
Just my 2 cents worth.
VickyH
http://RemarkableParents.com
Spot on!
For us (web-marketing people), social media is simply another extension of the medium in which we work. The term “Social Media Expert” can be very deceiving. These people can quickly go by the way of “Dot.commer” once the business world has a more clear way of understanding the value of social media.
Facebook and Twitter began in ‘04 and’06 respectively. Remember, the dot.com bubble was only 4 years long and then ‘kaboom’.
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/