I have been hearing a lot lately about 'Certified Social Media Experts'. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on and this is my rant about this phenomenon and how the NAR® has contributed to the mess.
The fact of the matter is that there is no Social Media, Social Networking or SEO certification. So, pretty much any 19 year old with a keyboard can claim they are an 'expert'. Yes, there are companies that 'offer certification', but I agree with Edward Lewis on this one. There are some of us that may be intellectually certifiable, but if someone tells you they are a 'certified professional' in our industry, then they bought a piece of paper and are blowing smoke... well somewhere...
Think about it! We can't have an effective industry certification in such a fast-paced industry! We would have to re-certify every time Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (and a multitude of other sites) made a major change to their site, algorithms, applications etc etc. In fact, here is a blog by Darryl O'Donnell on Beware the 'Certified Social Media Expert' that I completely agree with. We would be in re-certification classes until we were blue in the face and behind the curve by months.
Oh! You think it's just mommas-basement-residing scammers that use this to coax consumers out of their hard earned money???
Nope! Even the NAR® (National Association of Realtors®) is guilty of trying to make a quick buck off the back of unsuspecting consumers. At one point they too were offering a Social Media Expert 'Certification' to unsuspecting real estate agents! They collected money, scheduled the two day 'certification event' and then suddenly... without notice... quietly returned everyone's money and cancelled the event.
hmmmmmmm???... no further comments there about the message they send to their customers.... draw your own conclusion on that one...
(Ok... ok... twist my arm... just one truly deserved comment... Got to love the NAR®!)
In February 2010 they honored me and other experts in our field by taking copyrighted search engine optimization advice and then turning it into Bad SEO Advice for Real Estate Agents. When I complained to the author, Katherine Tarbox, she removed my name and reworded my content... turning it into plagiarism. I don't know what she did to 'correct' the other authors' misrepresented advice... but seriously now... How do you become a senior editor for the NAR without understanding plagarism? I'm just saying....
Comments(8)