I can’t think of anything that I disagree with in this article. “Social Media Experts” seem to be everywhere and it does feel like a flock of sheep looking for an instant goldmine.

I’ve been quietly observing & researching many of them as I try to work out SM for myself, and my clients what else becomes apparent very quickly is many of them have less than 2yrs history on any of the platforms, many are trying to make the audience change to their ideas and many also offer a one-size fits all solution.

Perfect example of the experts missing the point of ‘social connection’ has been the recent debate on twitter hash tag (#rshyr) used for the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race. Yachties knew it, the papers published it, & the offical website of the race had it & their twitter account front&centre – yet experts #failed it because they couldn’t find it, didnt know what the ‘r’ stood for and so the reasons why it was wrong went on.

To my mind the #fail tweets missed the point about who the audience was, researching the topic, being smart about the length of the tag in relation to 140ch but most of all it showed the ‘gold rush’ mentality of trying to be a miner in a field where you clearly did not know the actual business of the industry, how much that industry may already be connected with their audience and whether or not they need to dig deeper for a wider audience.