Thanks for reading!

J

No, I don’t believe there are experts in SEO, I certainly don’t believe that I’m an expert and would never bill myself as one.

That’s not saying that other people don’t think differently about me, as others may consider you to be an expert in social media. It’s the title itself I have issue with, not the level of skill.

Celebrity gossip is the lowest form of journalism.  You made your crotch-tographing bed, now lie in it.

No, I don’t believe there are experts in SEO, though what I believe isn’t necessarily so. 

By the way, are there experts in SEO?

But I won’t argue with you, as your ego is taking up too much room on my blog. I stand by my assertion that “social media experts” (including you) are calling themselves that because it sells better, not because it’s authentic or serves the public in any way.

By the way, I Googled you.

Really?  Celebrity gossip?  That’s your contribution to the world? I may not be an “expert” as you are, but I can sleep at night knowing I don’t lie beside those who take pictures of Lindsay Lohan’s “hoochie” as she steps out of a limo.

Your blog is crass, full of expletives, sensationalism, poor taste and animal cruelty (http://raincoaster.com/2008/09/15/why-i-hate-chihuahuas/), not to mention myriad grammatical and spelling errors. 

Your writing is shamelessly self-absorbed, and surprisingly juvenile for someone of your (apparent) age and claims of “sophistication”  (I don’t think the word “twatsmear” is very sophisticated – http://raincoaster.com/war-is-not-my-language/).

I would not be surprised to find you on the streets of Vancouver kicking a Chihuahua puppy with your left foot while tripping a celebrity with your right just so you can photograph them in the gutter.

But, to each their own I suppose – we all have to make a living. It’s just that I’d rather die poor and unknown than live and thrive by the shlock you call journalism, or blogging, or whatever it is you think you do – which, so far as I can tell, is seeking money and fame.

Good day sir.

What I will say is I’m active daily on 13 and weekly on 20-25 separate social platforms, and have been teaching social media for nearly a decade, since long before it was called that. You’re welcome to verify that by simply googling me. 

In any field, there are those that have the goods. I’m not the world’s greatest analytics person, or the world’s greatest marketer, but if you want to use social media to make a real transformation in either your life or your organization, that’s what I do, and I’m good at it. I am expert in that. 

You can be an expert show jumper without being even barely competent at bronc riding. That doesn’t mean you’re not an expert rider; it just means someone is trying to make the word “expert” general, and not specific. It can be both.

I think what you mean by “expert” is “omniscient god”. No one could ever really be an expert at anything, could they? And if they can’t, then there can be no meaningful distinction among all the various practitioners.

So far as being an “expert” and a “sophisticated user”, you’ve assigned those titles to yourself. In my email signature, I call myself “Master of the Universe”.  It doesn’t make it so.

Honestly though, I don’t see how you could claim to be familiar with all of the social media platforms on the market.  You may be a WordPress expert, or a Twitter expert, or a Facebook expert, but you can’t possibly be proficient in all forms of social media.  There are too many, and new ones rising every day.

That’s my issue with the “expert” status.  It has nothing to do with competency, because you can’t prove competency in social media any more than you can prove competency in pens.

If you’re a sociologist, call yourself a sociologist who advocates social media as a dissemination platform.  If you’re a researcher, call yourself a researcher.  If you facilitate dissemination, then say that. The idea that you’re an expert implies that you’re proficient in all methods of social-based media dissemination, and I don’t buy it.