Social media is still a specialism
Steve Rubel says it’s the “end of the road for social media gurus” and I disagree. I think there’s a long way to go before people stop earning a wage from specialising in social media. It reminds me of the whole “PR is dead and blogging killed it” meme from 2006.
These are the reasons I wrote in the comment section:
- As someone has already alluded to, in early adopter sectors (e.g. tech) this may be the case but in numerous other sectors it is not. In the last two weeks I’ve spoke with people from different sectors (charity, housing and retail to name a few) and they are way off.
- Social media is not *just* about PR and marketing. A social media specialist by definition should be working with the HR department, the customer services department and, to some extent, the legal team, as well as PR and marketing.
- I don’t need to tell Steve Rubel the rate of change in social media is phenomenal. No more than five years ago there were huge two-day conferences dedicated to just blogging. Because five years ago blogging *was* social media. Look at it now. It’s so advanced from that (in hindsight) primitive state that no doubt in another five years time we’ll look back on today and laugh at our naivety. Regular nine-to-fivers find it difficult to keep up and there will always be a need for that person on the bleeding edge who eats, sleeps and breathes social media.
- If Steve Rubel and Chris Pirillo believe something expect it to become mainstream in a minimum of five years. Steve you were talking about lifestreaming circa three years ago and even now we’re not totally there yet (although you were bang on the money with your prediction).
- How much of the US PR industry is using Twitter in either a personal or professional capacity? To be generous I’ll say 40% max. That’s still 60% who are still not even on Twitter yet. Obviously this is not scientific but if they aren’t using Twitter either in a professional or personal capacity one could assume they’re behind the curve in terms of their knowledge and understanding of social media.
- What about social media specialists who have operated in and understand multinational markets? Given their deep knowledge of social media in international markets are they irrelevant too?
The social media specialist/guru/geek/whatever will still be around in the foreseeable future.
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Stephen Davies : Digital Comms Professional : Trainer : Consultant
2 responses so far, Say something?
Luke Davies
Great blog. You’re completely right – in a couple of years time, saying that you’re a social media specialist will be like saying you know how to use Windows; it’s a skill all PR people will need to have. However, while there will be a surfeit of people that can use social media, not all of them will be able to integrate it effectively into a PR campaign. The better PR agencies will be the ones that can demonstrate how they use social media to amplify all aspects of the PR campaign, and use it to create genuine business benefits for their clients.
Jul 4th, 2011
Joe
Sure, people may think they have a handle on this blogging, twitter and facebook stuff, and that might lull them into thinking that they’re masters of all social media. But in reality the internet moves very quickly and we can’t tell what the next big thing in social media will be. You’ll always need social media experts to jump on emerging trends and explain all of it to the average 9 to 5 office worker who doesn’t have the time or inclination to stay on top of newest developments in web 2.0.
Jul 5th, 2011