Updated List of Social Media Gurus on Twitter: a Public Service for CMOs, from What's Next Blog

By B.L. Ochman

Companies large and small are scrambling to pick a social media guru to guide them through the wilds of new media marketing. Fortunately, there is no shortage of self-declared social media marketing gurus, experts, consultants, agencies and stars. Provided as a public service, an updated search of Twitter bios on Tweepsearch provides the following count:

Self-proclaimed gurus on Twitter = 5,855, including:

155 social marketing gurus
16 social marketing stars
5088 social media marketers
1,132 social media consultants
379 social media
16 social media stars
264 social media strategists
271 social marketing experts
179 social marketing companies
1,279 marketing gurus
35 e-marketing gurus
15 new media marketing gurus
144 online marketing gurus
215 internet marketing gurus
9 viral marketing gurus
82 new marketing gurus
153 blog gurus
69 Facebook gurus

And then there are the social media stars, et al, including:

5088 social media marketers
16 social marketing stars
16 social media stars
1,132 social media consultants
264 social media strategists
271 social marketing experts
179 social marketing companies
17 viral marketing agencies

Should you like guidance on how to select your social media marketing guru - besides requiring them to have an actual track record for actual clients - please see my earlier post on How To Pick Your Social Media Guru.

And please let me know if I've missed a category in my search. It is, of course, important for you to have thorough choices.

Follow me on Twitter. And Don't worry, I'm not a guru.

And 1 (so far) Social Media.ist - me.
Cannot stand the Guru, Ninja, classification myself.
http://areweconnected.com/2009/05/2-things-that-don%E2%80%99t-make-a-social-media-guru/
Good article!

BTW: came via Social Media section in Alltop

"Follow me on Twitter. And Don't worry, I'm not a guru."

Well, why'd i follow you then? I only follows Gurusss ;)

BL, I fear you have excluded the all-important category of "social media jedi." ;-)

Where do the "Life Coach" Twitter people fit in?

B.L., Don't forget the social media ninjas..

Interresting stats. I would be curious to know where you forund the information.

I'm glad to see the number of social media gurus continues to grow. The fact that there's such glut of them means that if I ever do need one, it will be a buyer's market and I'll get a good price. What do you think the going hourly rate for a guru is these days? If it's less than $10.00 an hour I could use one for some chores around the house and maybe some babysitting.

Astoundingly, there are 60 social media ninjas on Twitter according to a Tweepsearch!

Michael - the stats are from www.tweepsearch.com as it says in the post.
BL

If you have to self proclaim yourself as a guru, you're probably not a guru.

Well, I don't want to brag but I have been dubbed THE viral online social media expert consultation marketing guru star. But just by a couple people.

There is only one Guru and he is Mike Myers !

Echo your thoughts. I do agree that there are too many self-proclaiming gurus around.

This is true. What I often forget is that a handful of those people are experts to people who don't know anything at all and they do provide value. For the most part though, I don't even see why someone would want to put Anything that will see a decline in the near future as part of their identity.

I see you not as a guru of this one area of blogging or social media, but as an expert on whatever the new media will be about.

This is why I prefer to label myself social media "whore" or "freak." I'm into it, I'm addicted to it, but there's no way I'm an expert in it. It hasn't even fully developed yet. At least that's how I've approached it :)