Today, I’m happy to announce a project that has been in the works for the past year: Social Media Expert Trust Certification™.
With a seemingly unending number of “social media expert” consultants out there, as a user experience designer I feel it’s our goal is to have certification process of the social media industry. With this certification, companies and organizations will know they are getting a solid expert in social media and not just some schmuck wanting to be their online friend.
In connection with representatives from Google, MySpace, TechCrunch and Digg forming as an advisorary board, my intention is to make the certification standard complete and open sourced around the same time as HTML5’s completion.
Why Do We Need This?
A lot of people out there claim to be social media experts, but how can you tell the person who sits at in his mother’s basement friending everything with a MySpace account to those that can actually go about monetizing the crowdsource space 2.0‑style?
You will with Social Media Expert Trust Certification™.
What Vectors Do We Certify?
The Social Media Expert Trust Certification looks at five golden vectors for certification:
- Can they tell the difference between making a point that benefits others rather than just blabbering endlessly into their Web cam?
- Have they ever bought their Second Life avatar virtual clothes that are in season?
- Knowing full well that no one can click on them, does their Twitter background image still contain links to their other social media sites?
- Do they have an auto-follow mechanism in place on their Twitter account that contains links to other social media sites?
- Lastly, but not least: do they like Robert Scoble? No, really. Do they like Robert Scoble? Seriously?
Aren’t There Others That Do This?
In this day, people might ask whey do we need certification of media experts while there are schools like Birmingham City University offering a degree in Social Media.
But we know schools take 5 years to catch up with anything technology-driven. So, while you are getting certified in Friendster by an academic insitution, you can get on the cutting edge with courses like “Being Reborn on Facebook 2.0, the new Twitter.”
How Can I Join In?
Are you a company in need of certified social media expert? Or are you someone who has been thinking they are qualified social media expert, but would like the veil of ignorance to be lifted and know once and for all?
Then leave a comment below and I will get back to you with details once they are finalized with my Nigerian counterpart on this most exciting chapter in the social media industry!