Saturday, May 26, 2012

Qualifications: Social Media Expert. Is That Even Possible?


With graduation sneakily approaching, college seniors wonder, ‘What’s next?’ Up until now, every step of our lives has been decided for us, elementary school, middle school, high school, and lastly, college. Now, it is our turn to decide what to do with the rest of our life? In a recent Huffington Post Article, “Social Media Experts With 5-7 Years of Experience?,” Craig Agranoff discusses the vital role that social media plays, in regards to big businesses, as well as the importance of a company hiring a ‘social media expert.’ To find an individual with seven years’ experience in social media is difficult, seeing as social media wasn’t popular until 2009.  Agranoff’s article is trying to persuade companies from putting an allotted amount of time on job titles, and as a soon-to-be college graduate, looking for a job, this would crack open new jobs and networks for my fellow graduates and myself. Instead, Agranoff suggests that companies examine a potential employee’s accuracy with regards to forecasting future social media, not just how many years they can put down on a resume.

With all of the changes that social media has endured, years of experience doesn’t matter, since the field itself is so young. What is important is one’s capacity to learn, understand and utilize social media, whether they have been using social media for ten years or ten months. Companies need to realize that social media is constantly developing; therefore, a business searching for an ‘expert’ doesn’t suffice, while looking for an individual who is well informed, is able to research the area and find a strategy are three principle business needs to examine.  We are about to embark on our hunt for the perfect job, in a field relatively young in age, and my hope is that we are not discouraged from jobs that are labeled ‘expert’ because that word is unrealistic. 

4 comments:

  1. I think you raise some good questions about what it means to be an "expert" on social media. In my own research, I've often focused on cases where so-called experts on digital practices have completely misread what they think they see, as in the case of the SonicJihad fan film. How can you connect this uncertainty about expertise more directly to the conversations that we have been having about digital journalism? And what should we be teaching in this class to improve social media literacy for these future careers?

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  2. I've been searching for jobs recently, and I've encountered plenty of positions asking for social media experts. In fact, many of the interviews I have gone through ask how much social media I use. And while I think I'm fairly knowledgeable about social media, I feel like there is an entirely different aspect to social media that many "experts" are not completely aware of. There are many brands where having a Facebook fan page where users are freely allowed to interact with other fans simply does not work.

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  3. Great post. This post will probably help many of those hoping to work in careers with ties to social media that there's a stark difference between effectively being able to use social media for advertising/publicity campaigns, and being able to gauge social trends to determine what kinds of tactical usage/trends will become relevant for business success in the future.

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  4. well I think in this world of competition if you are getting a good opportunity you should switch to it and becoming a Social Media Expert in just 5-7 years is a good deal.

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