There were a few new comments that came into my post about social media speakers this past weekend. I wondered why...it turns out Spike Jones sent out a tweet. Following-up on that, Mack Collier posted some more thoughts on the 'expert' label. Here's what I posted as a comment:
Gotta disagree with you on some of this. I'll point to client success over personal success any day of the week. Like many folks that are working their ass off for clients, it's tough to maintain personal presence everywhere.
Of course there is a big difference from a list of clients and a list of client work. Many folks that list a bunch of clients are on a bunch of first dates. That is they've met with a client, done a one day boot-camp on social media....and that's about it.
What firms should be looking for is long-term, measurable programs...not one-off strategy sessions or quick flash-in-the-pan projects.
Is there a rift between those who do and those who talk? Yes there is. Here's a bit of a tip. Those of us that work on projects full time look at those that twitter all the time and say, "What do these people do all day? How are they billable?"
Visitor Comments
Josh, I've noticed that as I get more billable work, I blog, twitter, and generally participate less. I worry that I'll get "stale" and not leverage the newest learnings for my clients. Perhaps it comes down to balancing billable work and personal professional participation.
Posted by: An Bui | March 30, 2009 11:37 AM
"Is there a rift between those who do and those who talk? Yes there is. Here's a bit of a tip. Those of us that work on projects full time look at those that twitter all the time and say, "What do these people do all day? How are they billable?""
If you send a reply to me on Twitter anytime between 7am and 10pm, odds are I will answer you within minutes. That might look like I spend 15 hours a day on Twitter. So if you jump to that conclusion, it's easy to say 'hey that guy can't be working, he's on Twitter all day!'
But for me (and for many consultants I know), Twitter is where our network is, where are clients are, and where our current clients are. Twitter has replaced email and in many cases the phone as the preferred way that people stay in touch with me. So I keep TweetDeck up and running almost all day, every day.
Does that mean I am physically on Twitter 15+ hours a day? Of course not. But it does mean that I have TweetDeck running in the background all day. I have to, because Twitter is how most of my contacts prefer to contact me.
Just because you think we are on Twitter 'all the time' doesn't mean we actually are. And it could even mean that some of us are actually getting some work done.
The funny part is, I wonder how many people that work in social media can get much work done WITHOUT constantly being in touch with Twitter. So that perceived rift could go both ways.
Posted by: Mack Collier | March 30, 2009 4:28 PM
Thank you so much for saying this. I'm beginning to wonder about some of the so-called experts who do nothing but toot their own horn on Twitter all day long while the 'community' fawns over their every platitude.
Bah. Some of us have work to do. Real work that can't be captured in 140 characters or fewer.
Posted by: David Parmet | March 30, 2009 7:35 PM
Josh, you were one of the people who first convinced me that the culture of generosity drives the blogosphere and social media. I learned a great deal (and still do) from your posts. Even though they are less frequent now, I look forward to reading each new post.
But I have to admit that I'm puzzled at the theme that those who are busy doing are too busy to post. Yes, they may post less to their blog. But I find that many have moved the daily discussion over to Twitter, with less frequent long form posts on their blogs.
And yes, I find it ironic that people are labelling themselves experts (that's for others to judge, not me.) But in the end, quality shows through - quality of insight, quality of judgment and quality of creativity. And those that don't have this can never fake it.
Posted by: Joseph Thornley | April 8, 2009 7:15 PM