Are “Social Media Consultants” (ca. 2010) the New “Web Designers” (ca. 2000)?

Every other person who follows me on Twitter these days describes themselves as “Social Media Consultants” or “Social Media Experts”. I’m guessing this is for one of two reasons:

1) They really are. After all, in a world of billions, it’s not hard to imagine that a few thousand social media consultants/experts have popped up since the rise of social media (the trend formerly known as “Web 2.0”).
Or
2) Are “Social Media Consultants” today what “Web Designers” were ten years ago?

Allow me to explain:

I remember 10 years ago when the Dot.Bomb bubble exploded and left a lot of egg on a lot of faces. It also left a lot of people unemployed. Along with the overall slump in the economy at the time, there was a rise in people who referred to themselves as web designers. I’d rather refer to them as “Dummies Guide Web Designers,” since they tended to be people who had lost their employment situation (or were recent graduates), owned a Web Design for Dummies book, a computer and an Internet connection and SHAZAAM! they’re a web designer. These men and women are certainly still around, although I think their numbers may have diminished…

Is that what’s currently going on with social media? Of course there are tried and true Social Media Jedi Knights out there (I’m fortunate enough to know some of them) but are many of today’s social media consultants the True Experts, or simply more of the Dummies Guide variety, like what web designers were around the year 2000?

I guess, over the next couple of years, we’ll find out. By which time, another Dummies Guide Expert du Jour will be on the rise!

Just wondering…

Ahmed Yearwood
Owner/Founder
Y INTERACT
Follow me on Twitter (@ahmedley – my personal posts) or (@YINTERACT – our studio posts)