Self-Proclaimed Social Media Gurus on Twitter Multiplying Like Rabbits

In May 09 when we first used Tweepsearch to count of the Twitter bios of self-proclaimed social media gurus, experts, superstars and ninjas there were 4,487. A mere seven months later, we were shocked to see that there are now nearly 16.000. They are multiplying like rabbits.

Here's a breakout of the 15,740 self-proclaimed social media gurus we discovered in our most recent search:


As your company or agency scrambles to get up to speed on social media, it is wise to remember that "guru" is something someone else calls you. The consultants others are likely to call gurus:

• bring experience to the table;


• sell solutions, not formulas;


• don't promise that social media will provide a quick fix for your bottom line.

It's amazing how many experts there are blowing their own horn. If I see guru in someones profile I automatically label
them a tool and unfollow.

The proof is in the pudding.
Always.

By now, the true social media gurus and experts aren't proclaiming they are anymore. They've already proven that they are.

However, since the term is so overused, I suspect that if a true expert named "Jill" was called a social media guru by someone, Jill would probably disavow the term.

BL - incredible stats.
This is oneof those subjects I feel very torn about - perhaps its the context in which people are 'positioning' themselves...or perhaps its the way 'self-proclamation' is perceived.
I personally think (and encourage) people to say they are a social media 'enthusiast' if they are that - I think its great so many people have developed a passion for such a wonderful form of communication.
I still maintain that people who say they are experts will get found out in the end in any event - the 'true' experts (like Joanne Jacobs for example) can sit in front of a client / prospect and answer any question dished out at her - the fakers would melt in that environment.
them...and relate it in a way that makes sense as opposed to using 'it' words - so I say, let the bunnies multiply because the truth is always revealed come crunch time.
Adam

Name calling aside, the bullet point advise is right one.

There are no rules to who can put "social media" on their card.. just like there is no limit to how many VP's a bank can appoint.

If social media has taught us anything.. it's that we can't pretend anymore. Authenticity will prevail.

Anyone can be a so called expert these days but I am sure not one of these "experts" has 10,000 hours or more in the social media space.

To me, a social media expert is someone who can create a video that goes viral every single time.

You forgot all the 'queens' and 'divas'. Ugh.

what's wrong with "social media companies", "social media agencies", and so forth? These examples don't support your argument. It just makes those people who happen to work in social media business feel bad. Otherwise, what would they say on their profile? That's their work after all! I agree "gurus" and "ninjas" are ridiculous terms, but you went too far to treat innocent people the same as those guys.

why choose this image to go with the story?
Do you know what it is?

Hi

Why have you used this picture on this post ? its a picture with religious background, and it hurts that u hve used it in a totally irrelevant context.

Thanks

Good one!

We all know that professionally executed search marketing is the only thing that can increase earnings due to superior query relevancy.

Social media is just PR 3.0, it has the potential to be more than that, but the lack of user identity verification prevents usage of it's promise.

Your title captivated me!!! I have realized the same thing in learning how to maximize my own internet traffic. So many "experts" out there. Thank you for calling a spade, a spade. Great post!

BL,

I love it! Will they outnumber the self-help gurus in the near future? Great find, thanks so much for sharing.

Everybody's an expert these days. Makes you wonder who to turn to for good advice.

Ochman,

you should not use Hindu God(Vishnu Avatara) for such articles.

Yeah, would like to see ____ mavens added to this list. Or Sri Sri Ravi ____ :-)

Stage 1 : teaching people how to make money from Twitter

Stage 2 : teaching people how to make money doing Twitter training

Stage 3 : teaching people how to make money teaching people how to train Twitter consultants

BL, very interesting stats. The image selection does seem inappropriate though. :(

I don't know if they've taught you the basics at the preparatory school, I also wonder if these values are remotely a prefix to that preparation, but you are required to keep the cultural and religiously sensitivity in mind while posting such links in public. The photo that you display are the manifestation of God for one sixth of the world population and to use it to sell your own distorted propaganda could just obviously shun away from the topic you're highlighting, and portray your highly ostentatious skills in even dimmer lights. If your article is worth something, it will be read anyways... you don't need to add duplicity to our God for it. Don't take curses for nothing, remove the photo, your article can do well without it. God bless you.

Don't understand why you used image of Lord Vishnu?
Is this a new SEO tactic to get more comments or get more visitors as more and more people mat raise eyebrows? It should be removed or explanation should be given if you care a bit about your readers.

Seriously do you have any clue about this picture?

You just added your own name to the hallowed list of self-proclaimed retards you mentioned in your post.

Whats the context of using photo of Lort Vishnu(hindu god ) in this post?

What is the relevancy of using this pic with this post? pls remove it.

thank you.

Do you even know the meaning of the picture you have used in the post? Or it is just that you find the picture exotic!

Funny .. Look who's talking about the digital media... I mean this must be one of the worst designed site I have seen oflate .. I really dont knw much about tons of social media gurus but u sure cud do with a designer .

The use of the image in this post is in poor taste and show's an insensitivity towards the Hindu religion.

Maybe Mr Ochman should take a break from talking about Social Media this holiday season and take five minutes to deal with his ignorance of eastern religions.

That pic is pretty ignorant. Its a revered hindu god. Its as bad as using Jesus to illustrate an article about false gods or gurus, only a total idiot would use Jesus in that context, so what's your excuse?

Does the author know what he is publishing - the image in this blog has no relevance to the context of the article? Why use a Hindu religious image at all???

How would you feel if someone were to use a Virgin Mary' picture on a post about teenage pregnancies in American schools????

I definitely did not realize how inappropriate my original choice of image was. Thank you for pointing it out. I have changed the photo!

please accept my apology.
thanks
BL

Would any claim to be a digital anthropologist?

If you refer to Wikipedia's "Guru" article http://bit.ly/NTTZr, you'll note: "In Western usage, the meaning of guru has been extended to cover anyone who acquires followers, though not necessarily in an established school of philosophy or religion." Therefore, I suppose, nearly every Twitter user can be considered, according to that definition, a guru ;)

Wouldn't Social Media Ninjas be invisible and therefore uncountable? These can't be real ninjas. Oh wait...that was the point. :)

gentlemen - hmm, considering that a large photo of me is on the blog, i have to wonder about your facility with images. I'm the one on the left.

From my high lofty tower of elevated guru, superstar, you yeah baby it's me, status platform... I can see... naaa! - people have been using this term for YEARS, Internet Marketers disowned it because it became a bit to embarrassing to be associated with but the term, is really a term of indearment / fandom - a person proclaiming them self a guru (after reading a few twitter ebooks) - other than tongue in cheek / or having a giggle, is deluded, seriously.

Hi BL! and some really good points! I think the only person who ever called me a guru was John Byrne. Which, if someone's going to call you a guru, that's a good person to be calling you one :)

I know exactly what you mean--and Andy's right to add the "divas" and "queens" as well. I also see lots of "if I can do it for my business, you can do it too!" that may be right, but that doesn't make you someone who can claim to be a social media consultant. Usually, consulting means you've done it for other people.

B.L., Thank you for finally saying what's been on my mind (and many others, undoubtedly). I have been rolling my eyes at the escalating number of self-professed social media gurus/experts that have been plaguing social media platforms of late. I see most of these contenders as used car salesmen at best, shady MLM operatives at worst. The XtraNormal video link that you provided says it all.

B.L., I personally dislike ninja, guru, and rockstar as a self-proclaimed title, unless that really is your job. I'm also tired of seeing social media a buzzword that describes nothing but the rise in this term includes legitimate companies having to slug it out in search wars. I am not a guru of any kind but early on I was getting my clock cleaned by people selling snake oil with a guru title for things I actually could do and do well (like actual marketing strategy). If customers are interested in learning how to integrate social media tools into their marketing efforts and you leave these keywords out of your site and profiles, you could lose business.

Excellent post! I refuse to follow anyone who self-proclaims their genius. I wrote on this topic back in August, although I lacked your numerical proof of this lunacy:

http://lightbulbinteractive.blogspot.com/2009/08/queen-gueneveres-social-media-advice-to.html

Now plug in "entrepreneur"

I noticed you changed the picture. Thanks for being considerate to our feelings. Nothing multiplies like rabits :) Good choice of picture.

I found this post and the replies very interesting. I use the term guru and was a little taken back.

Here are my thoughts on this debate. Firs this is to determine what "guru" is. A guru is someone who is a "leader" or "expert" in their field. This means that they have tried something in a particular field and want to share their experiences with other people.

I think using this term and others allow your future clients/customers that you have experience in this field.

I think it is no different than doctors. If they did not have MD at the end you would not know that they have tried something and succeeded. Because they have passed they can now wear this at the end of their name to let you know what they do.

There are something like 645,000 physicians in the US. (source: http://bit.ly/jd5El) Let's assume merely a quarter of them qualify as experts in their field. That makes 161,000 medical experts in this country.

Why do I bring that up? Because there is room in the marketplace for tens of thousands of everything, including social media experts. It's very arrogant of you to see a large number and immediately assume they all suck.

You might want to take into account that there might be irony in the Bio.

I claim myself to be "Social-SEO-Media-Project-Management-Advertisment-Twitter-Guru-Visionary-Expert" - and reading your article I figured that I forgot to add 'viral' :-)

Only reason 'social media strategist' is in my Twitter profile is because I actually develop social media strategies for my clients. It's my job title, and it does what it says on the tin.

Still, 'guru' does make me roll my eyes.

Dear BMD,

What certification and licensing process did you go through to get your "guru" title?

If "it is no different than doctors", you should know that people who practice medicine without a license often end up doing time.

I have 'strategist' in my bio too, but i don't limit it to social media. Guru simply is not something one calls oneself.

Your comment convinces me, yet again, that a lot of people read the comments and not the posts.

Wow, did anyone look at BMD's website? Stock Revolution Blue Wordpress theme, and she left the green advertising box blank. Not to mention she supposedly charges people $450 bucks for a seminar... WOW.

SIGN ME UP!

Why would you post a picture of rabbits on this post? The uneducated belief that rabbits reproduce more rapidly than any other other mammal or life form on the planet is incorrect and propagates a negative stereotype that has detrimentally devalued the lives of the rabbit and hare in the eyes of their most dangerous adversary, the human. Please remove the picture. Thank you.

Thank god for the recession, as now the social media gurus are on the way out.

One of the challenges of the social media industry, oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of challenges, is that self-proclaimed gurus have appeared from everywhere. In fact, the recession is going to cause those who are unemployed to experiment with the tools on a personal basis, giving them ample ammo to update their linkedin profile as a social media expert category.

But isn’t that the point? Shouldn’t everyone be able to get into the action? Of course, yes. However times are different now, with budgets under scrutiny, layoffs at hands, companies don’t have time for gurus filled with opinion, over-used case studies, and empty books. I was inspired by this charged article: ‘Like pedos in a playground‘ from the Register that exposes some of the weaknesses of the space.
===========================
Lawyer Marketing

You're absolutely right.
Now a'days, due to attraction marketing concept that everyone seem to apply with no solid grounds in terms of experience and results, Coaches, Trainers and Gurus, not only in Social Media, but also SEO, Viral Marketing are everywhere you look on social platforms.

My number one favorite scenario is those guru's or experts that promote other (and in some cases real) guru's programs and webinars.

I think that the problem is that people think that they are pro's if they know how to use the socia media tools. For becoming a guru you need to understand also also about marketing and business.

This is why I love you, BL. I posted eons ago that if you call yourself a guru, or have "guru," "expert," or "influencer" in any of your titles, handles, or screen names, simply put, you're not.

Backatcha! We've both been singing this song for eons! Yet, the self-proclaimed gurus keep multiplying. And the ninjas, etc.

One "Strategist" calling other strategists as rabbits. That's Social Media! I am the one. Rest are all fools :)

i wonder if one gets a certification like SCJP for Social Media Strategist. If not, do you need one for Guru?

One might get 800+ tweets for such articles, but it all boils down to try and make yourself famous as strategists or Gurus.

No offence. Just my 2 cents.

Cheers!

Most professionals recognize the minimum tenure for expert status, or in this case "guru", is having 10 years hands-on experience.

The so-called "social media gurus" are often found to only be either mockingbirds or aspiring scam artists.

Check out this post on the issue:
http://www.thevisibledentist.com/blog/can-twitter-facebook-help-dentists-get-patients/

yeah..it should be controlled the self proclaimed social media gurus..

The Social Media Guru strikes again...

http://www.youtube.com/onsipvids#p/a/u/0/icw2u7RXvGc