Every time the meme of “oh look those idiots are calling themselves Social Media [Gurus|Experts|Specialists]” comes up I get highly annoyed at the hidden insult. And the fact that this kind of posting most often is link bait.

Just because there are millions of nephews putting together web sites by clicking in Frontpage does not mean that there are no real web developers. And just because there are millions who use Word merely as a better typewriter or Excel like a better calculator does not mean that others can’t do great stuff.

It is an insult not only to the people doing social media in the right way for their customer, but also to all the buyers out there: because obviously they are too stupid to figure out on their own which specialist will work best for their needs and requirements.

“Social Media Something” is what customers are looking for
Believe it or not, “Social Media Something” is actually what works for the normal people (you know, the ones with the budgets). They want even more specific things, and I am waiting for it to come up in the “so called social media specialist” postings: “and there are even people who call themselves (insert your favourite play toy here) experts!”.

Customers are not searching for “basic training in how to use a computer and a browser”. Yet every day I see people typing in URLS by hand instead of using bookmarks. Customers are not looking for “basic training on how to use email” yet every day we can see solutions on “how to go email free and get work done”. It is stuff like this what the customers should pay for to learn to do it properly, because it will help them in the long run. But that is not what the customers are asking or paying for.

They are only paying “for that Internet thing” or nowadays “for that [Twitter|Facebook] thing”. People who make a living out of this can either stand in the corner with offerings which are “healthy” for the customer – or understand that this is not working and use the language the client understands. And then work from there.

An Expert will fix everything – not
Some customer actually have a clear vision of what they want to achieve, what their resources are, what their possibilities are, etc. Most don’t. From my point of view it is the responsibility of every consultant to assess what the clients wants / haves / needs are and then decide if he or she is the right fit for this customer, this industry and or this project.

It includes knowing what not to give to the customer. Often customers are attracted by on one shiny thing (which 2009 was Twitter, take your pick in the other years from whatever is hyped). They want “a Twitter” but would be far better of by a newsletter or even something offline.

There are of course the people taking advantage of the miserable state of customers – but that is no excuse to blame it all just on one side. There are two parties in each deal.

For standards you need metrics
Speaking of miserable state, I found the slides by Marshall Sponder very enlightening on the topic.

So as long as we have no reliable metrics and meta data, we will stay in the wild wild west of social media. But he, what about those called for industry standards? Okay, how about you tell me the “industry standards for online marketing”. And then show me the “certified trainings and associations”.

So next time you see somebody complaining about the “so called experts” do me a favour: if you are knowledgable just make sure that your customers and friends know what to look for when they hire a freelancer or any company to do stuff for them – and not just when it is about social media.

Also worth reading (including the comments):
Thanks, but no thanks: Enough with the nonsense already.

But it worked awesome for the coaching industry!
I’d like to add the comment I left on Mashable’s posting about fresh ‘numbers of so called experts’ where the argument of the industry standards with comparison to the coaching industry came up:

So just because someone has a certificate makes them a good coach? And having learnt something at some day in their live to pass the exams (even if they include assignments over time) makes them better than somebody in another industry because there is no ‘association’?

I have been training people on how to use computers for two decades, how to use the Internet for biz for 11 years and nowadays that is mostly social media stuff. But I do not have any ‘certification’ – which obviously means that I have no clue what I am doing nor am I capable of helping clients, because I call myself social media specialist.

The industry standards exist, and although Return on Investment is not what it is for many other areas, it exists. But it requires a lot of knowledge from the buyer which very often is not given. I hesitantly do say I am a social media specialist, but mostly for the reason that the buyers want this kind of description to differentiate with other areas of Internet related services.

“Oh you do that Facebook stuff. And I need a Twitter!” is basically the knowledge of many – and having that, many of the not so skilled social media people are way ahead of those customers. Let’s imagine there is an exam on how to become ’social media qualified’. Even with certification (how many coaches world wide are there again? How many of those work successfully without having ever seen a ‘certification’?) it does not guarantee success.

Put it differently: “I know way more about this stuff than you do and can explain it to you in a way that you will understand, work with you on your objectives, strategies and execution and make sure that you do not screw up on the way (assuming that you actually will listen and do what I tell you)” just does not fit in 160 characters of self description on a twitter bio …

In this last collection of soundbites – which was supposed to be posting automatically while the train was heading for France – you have shorter snippets of people who want to meet other people to connect. This sounds way simpler than it is mean, because every single one I know comes to Leweb for exactly this: meeting others, conversations and more.

And to check if the food, coffee and wifi this year hold up. ;) I already got some requests about doing an after Leweb Podcast: convince me while I am there, that there is more to be shared about Europe and I’ll be happy to do so. Looking forward talking to you in Paris!

The soundbites in the file:

• Betsy Weber(Twitter Web)from the States, wants to meet screencasters and hit the christmas markets
• Ana Pires(Twitter Web)is from Portugal and is looking for people to collaborate with
• Dean Whitbread(Twitter Web Web)is from the UK and wants to show that not all British are Euroskeptical. He is looking forward to show some fashion ;) and also meet with innovative and creative minds of stuff which has not been done yet
• Chris Pirillo(Twitter Web)another one from the States, also with the christmas shopping ;)
• Anna Friedrich(Twitter Web)is from Germany and is scouting speakers for next10 next may
• Michael Moore-Jones(Twitter Web)is a 15 year old who wants to do reporting for the folks back home in NZ or as he puts it: given that he currently is in Europe he would be a complete idiot not to attend.

  Lili Rodichttp://www.ador.hr/lilirodichttp://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/421974022/lili_bigger.jpg

• Lili Rodic(Twitter Web)
  Not in the sounbites but she left a comment. Lili is also the one you want to talk to because “looking for EU partners; web development; nearshoring to Croatia”
  why? nice people, great atmosphere :)
  who? I will meet dear people from all over EU and comment real time web in real life with them!
  what? I wish to meet new clients and/or partners for http://www.ador.hr and http://www.crowd.com.hr and show them some croatian nice web applications.

Download MP3 (8:10 min, 5 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

 

Probably the one furthest away is John Lai, though he will not be travelling himself, but a fellow SMNZ writer I will include in the last posting of this series. :) We talk about how it is in NZ, why despite the english language they are behind – and that there is more to NZ than being Hobbitland. ;)

More information about him: Twitter: @smnz

Blog: Social Media New Zealand

Download MP3 (19 min, 18 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Nikos Anagnostou is one of those people I just met at previous Leweb and we have kept in touch since. He tells us a bit about Greece startup scene, and how the Open Coffee Club and Girl Geek Dinner are really successful. More information about him: Twitter: @nikan Blog: http://webtropic.cc and his company is http://scicada.com.

Download MP3 (16 min, 15 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Ewan Spence is coming to Leweb for an argument, to bring shiny toys and explain why Leweb is more comparable to Dallas then to Dynastie. ;)

Download MP3 (15 min, 14 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Similar to the Travelling Geeks the guys at the Social Media Club House want to meet people. I am talking to Chris Heuer about the goals and ideas around this mission to Paris.

Download MP3 (17 min, 16 MB)

Social Media Club House Le Web edition is a home for bloggers in Paris before, during and after Le Web during the week of 7-12 December 2009. It is a place to create media, to sleep and to share the camaraderie of distant friends. In the Club House in Paris is Cathy Brooks, Dana Oshiro, Robert Scoble, Stephanie Booth, Kristie Wells and me, Chris Heuer. While the lease necessitates that we do not host any open parties, we are going to be inviting guests in for interviews and breaking bread with some leading web thinkers from around the world.

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

My first interview was with Renee Blodgett from the Travelling Geeks. Their mission? Visit Leweb and the French and write about them! :)

• About Traveling Geeks – http://travelinggeeks.com/about/
• Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Traveling-Geeks/113672560492
• Twitter: @travelinggeeks
• The Geeks – http://travelinggeeks.com/geeks/
• Sponsors & Partners: http://travelinggeeks.com/sponsors/

Download MP3 (13 min, 13 MB)

Traveling Geeks is heading to Paris to participate in a series of meet-ups, briefings, demos and activities in and around LeWeb, the renown web and Internet conference in Europe. The new site is live, and there’s now a Facebook fan page, so please sign up and follow along for an interesting ride over the next few weeks and beyond. The France team includes: Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, David Spark, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy. Our goal is to collaborate with innovators and influencers, and then share that knowledge and insight to a collective global audience through blogging, video, social media tools, traditional media and meet-ups.

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

I asked the attendees of Leweb why they are coming to Paris and got some quite interesting responses.  This posting serves as the overview of all availble or coming episodes.

1. Intro and why I myself am attending Leweb
2. Travelling Geeks  – Renee Blodgett
3. Social Media Club House – Chris Heuer
4. Ewan Spence on why Leweb is more like Dallas
5. Nikos Anagnostou from Greece
6. John Lai from SMNZ – down under
7. and a collection of shorter soundbites

I also published a guest post on the Leweb Blog titled
“Europeans Are International – Meet Them at LeWeb” . As you cannot leave them here, I encourage you to do that here ;)

For the first audio file I talk a bit about the reasons behind the mini series and how it came about.

Download MP3 (13 min, 13 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Leweb in Paris is one week away, and it’s about time to start the pre conference podcast again. In the past, I have interviewed speakers but found that people are much more interested in who else is coming and what they want to achieve when being in Paris. So this year I ask:

• Why are you coming to Leweb?
• Who do you want to meet?
• What would you like to present / showcase / tell others about?
  

What is your personal reason for attending? Is it to meet ‘the americans’ as some might call it or because you want to catch up with your fellow Europeans? Are you there as a startup who wants to connect with bloggers / VC or do you want to find new customers? What ever it is, I want to hear from you.

Send me your audio or text comment and I will include it in the podcast. It even can be a bit commercial (but not too much, it should still be valuable to listen to!) See at the end for more instructions.
To give you an example, mine would be something like this:

Hi, my name is Nicole Simon from Germany and I am coming to Leweb to meet other Europeans and exchange thoughts about how to bring Europe more together, how to foster those relationships, like for example meeting the Organizers of the Girl Geek Dinners from Greece and Brussel, Despina Bakirtzi and Clo Williarts.

Also I’d like to know more about local events with a european relevance. For Germany for example, you should learn about Next10 which happens next year May in Hamburg.

I want to find more podcasters to submit for the European Podcast Award and finally want to find out if this year we will have milk for our coffee – or if I need to go shopping again!

The guys at the Social Media Club House for example want to create a physical place to meet:

Social Media Club House Le Web edition is a home for bloggers in Paris before, during and after Le Web during the week of 7-12 December 2009. It is a place to create media, to sleep and to share the camaraderie of distant friends. In the Club House in Paris is Cathy Brooks, Dana Oshiro, Robert Scoble, Stephanie Booth, Kristie Wells and me, Chris Heuer. While the lease necessitates that we do not host any open parties, we are going to be inviting guests in for interviews and breaking bread with some leading web thinkers from around the world.

The travelling geeks on the other hand go out in the field and want to meet startups and locals:

Traveling Geeks is heading to Paris to participate in a series of meet-ups, briefings, demos and activities in and around LeWeb, the renown web and Internet conference in Europe.

The new site is live, and there’s now a Facebook fan page, so please sign up and follow along for an interesting ride over the next few weeks and beyond.

The France team includes: Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, David Spark, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy.

Our goal is to collaborate with innovators and
influencers, and then share that knowledge and insight to a collective
global audience through blogging, video, social media tools,
traditional media and meet-ups.

This is how you can participate:

• leave a comment here or tweet with the words why leweb
• send me your audio file to
  
• leave a voicemail via Skype
  

Looking forward hearing from you!

Disclosure: As one of the official bloggers I am receiving a free ticket for Leweb.