A few months back I read a lengthy post on LinkedIn challenging the idea of ‘expertise’ in the area of LinkedIn.
People were posting this on their profiles, proclaiming it in their statuses, and providing
how-to’s on the matter. I agreed with him. It is something that gets stuck in my craw a little when it comes to something as fluid as social media. This is not new, and it is definitely not only on LinkedIn. The only way we seem to gain knowledge is as a historian looking back at how it has been used. History is a difficult way to move forward in an area that is future and moment minded.
Expert? Is that like the 14-year olds I used to work with when Facebook was in it’s infancy? I recall vividly as I embarked into this new world of social media, trying to explain to people how we were all getting inclined to visiting with people’s avatars and desired profiles outside of real life. But the real experts were the young people and the only way to understand the next move was to watch their current ones.
The original post mentioned how many self-proclaimed ‘experts’ did not actually have much traction in their supposed field of expertise.
I guess there is a difference between having experienced something, and actually gaining expertise in it.
Eric Friesen 