Experts, Gurus and Evangelists
In the great wide social tapestry, a lot has been written about the appropriation of the word “expert” by people looking to leverage the web for a return.
I’ve mentioned my opinion on these in passing previously, but I got a DM on Twitter that I thought needed its own post to discuss the pitfalls of the word. It was along the lines of “So I Can Be Your Social Media God, check this out” (I’m paraphrasing because I deleted the message and stopped following them), along with the ubiquitous link to their e book. Now, calling themselves a ‘God’ is a pretty extreme (and risky) example but it highlights the point.
I don’t want to besmirch everyone who calls themselves “expert” or for that matter, ”guru”, but whether you are indeed an expert in your chosen field should be the determination of others. Time, participation and study devoted to a particular subject does give a certain level of authority and status. But by using the term expert, it gives the impression that you are at the top of your field, or that there is nothing left for you to learn and your word is the be all and end all on that topic.
Sadly, what you see on Twitter is often people who have simply read someone elses e-book and believe that qualifies them to call themselves “expert”.
There is no one size fits all approach to business, which is why some methods work for some but not for others. For those that it doesn’t work for, your expertise is of no value. Add to that the ongoing challenge of online reputation management, where bad publicity can become worse publicity very quickly, and your self billed “expertise” can really take a hammering.
There are many people who I follow that I consider experts. They know their stuff and I have never had a bad experience from following it, but not all of them call themselves gurus or experts. Those that do are widely considered, both on and offline, as the head of their field, therefore their expert status has been determined by their peers.
Some call themselves evangelists. This is one I see a lot of, and I don’t mind it because it means they are passionate and like to talk about a subject. These are the people I tend to follow. The fact that I call them experts is based on my assessment of the value they provide me. Others, like me, call themselves advisers. For me, the advice I offer has been gleaned from experience and learning in my field to now. You can choose to pay attention to it or not, but I have certainly not learned everything I need to know, and hope I never stop.
Then of course there are those who don’t need to call themselves anything and just get on with the job of providing great value.
Be careful how you position yourself online. Experts and gurus are treated warily.
Providing great value in the information you share and the services you provide will let others determine how much your expertise is worth.
Related posts:
- Automated DM – Annoying Twitter Habits Part 2
- Highlights from the Affili@SYD Conference
- Twitter as a Customer Service Tool
- Highlights from the Social Media Strategies Lunch
- Who Are You On Twitter?
Tags: Evangelist, Experts, Guru, Online Reputation, Social Media, Twitter
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