When I Become An Expert I'll Let You Know

It is so extremely frustrating to be a young PR professional who is trying to tap into those things that make PR great and yet be constantly confronted with senior level execs who just can't or won't see the light!

I just read a great posting by HARO founder Peter Shankman and "communicatrix" Sarah Evans which spoke to the influx of new "experts" of social media. You can check it out here. I totally agree with all 25 Reasons a firm's social media expert really isn't an expert at all since I've often been shopped by agencies as a social media expert. Here I am, an avid Twitterer, Facebook user, blogger etc. so of course in the eyes of would be employers, freelance clients etc I must be a social media expert right? WRONG!

These folks don't get that just because I use these tools doesn't necessarily make me an expert. But try telling that to someone who has just added social media to its list of services and touted you to the client as being an all knowing social media guru. It's funny, now a days in many firms if you're the only one who is doing something or knows about something then you automatically become the expert.

I'm in this just like most people, loving it, learning about it and trying to have some significant impact. While, I've been lucky enough to learn a few things from true experts like @skydiver, @briansolis and @prsarahevans I'd sooner refer a client to those Twitter accounts!

So while it's true that young PR professionals who just happen to dabble in social media are not experts by any measure it's equally true that many times these titles are added not by the professionals themselves but by the senior level execs who just don't get it.