Social Media Expertise

Lots of folks are running around billing themselves as “social media” experts. Most of my cohort online finds them annoying at best, and fraudulent at worst. In the spirit of self-exploration, and a wee bit of sarcasm, I present reasons that I (little ol’ me) could bill myself thusly.

Reasons I can call myself a Social Media Expert:

1. I’ve been reading Wil Wheaton’s blog since before the term “blog” was invented. And I didn’t know what to think when he shifted to Word Press.
2. Got a Facebook account back when you needed to request an invite, and the email had to be a .edu email address.
3. Had a “blog” before the term was invented. Each update hand-coded (html, if you don’t know...but actually care), with my archive needing a great deal of thought and strategy. (It was hosted on my “free” webpage that came gratis with my Earthlink account.)
4. With said blog, was excited to plug in a counter and delighted in watching it tick upward
5. I had a Geocites site (multiple pages, so truly a “site) before the Yahoo! acquisition.
6. Became part of a Webring.
7. I’ve had accounts on MySpace, Friendster, Yahoo!360...
8. Got a gmail account back when the only way was via an invite.
9. I was involved in many vigorous and interesting Usenet discussions
10. Actually know about Usenet...and where the archives are.
11. I’ve explained to people what a blog, Facebook, etc are before any reporter (other than tech/geek columnists) had written about them.
12. Remember when ZDNet was a tech forum focused on professional IT.
13. I’ve made comments on Dilbert’s List of the Day.
14. Know what an In-Duh-Vidual is.
15. Have actually used Mosaic.
16. Have actually used Lynx.
17. Had discussions about search engine optimization before the term “search engine optimization” existed.
18. Started my Blogger site before Google’s acquisition.

Some of these really should read “why I’m a web geek”, but, well, whatever.