Please say I’m a social media expert with bunny ears.

Whenever someone says “I’m a social media expert”, somewhere, an internet fairy dies.

I do hope all these people who say they are social media experts preface it with quotation marks. Because in an evolving field, can anyone be an expert?

Come to think of it, yes.


But I don’t think it’s anyone who would say they’re “social media experts”.

It’s the people who use the media who are finding clever ways to apply new media in ways unique to their needs and lifestyles. And it makes sense. Wouldn’t the democratization of the media mean the expertise (slash power) lies in the users, not with publishers or marketers?

I always look to TelCos – purveyors of the original social media - at least here in Manila. And even they, innovative as they are with their products and services, are outstripped by their subscribers.

Last year, Globe announced a partnership with rural banks to adapt a microlending debtor-payee platform using G-cash. An application that was happened upon first by individual microlending agents who found mobile cash an easy way to overcome mountain passes & bad infrastructure. 2 years ago. That first microlending agent who used g-cash, there’s a real social media expert there.

Whoever made the first LOLcat. The founder of 4chan. Kutiman. I think those guys are real media experts because they, well, got it. They created content or platforms that people found relevant and rewarding in the long-run.

As for the rest of us who are expected to come up with magic formula for the next big thing, with all due respect, I don’t think we can. We make educated guesses. Take our out-dated measures and past successes, and try to come up with what COULD maybe work with our audience.

Really, aren’t we all just social media prospectors? In a field that evolves by the hour, we're all still just figuring out how to walk, even while we talk the talk.