The secret that social media professionals don't want you to know is that you don't need them.
Setting aside, for a moment, the discussion of how/when/why/if social media is a good tool for your business, if you want to learn social media, you don't need an expert. You don't need to pay a consultant to show you Twitter, and you don't need to wait for Chris Brogan to tell you how to use Facebook.
Social media encourages and reinforces the very forces that teach people social media.
Social media is inherently social, public, and mostly free. And the smartest people in the industry are also inherently social, public, and give away a lot of amazing insight and information for free. Everything you need to know about social media is already available for you, filtered by millions of readers, and optimized from many years of other people's trial and error. And everyone you need to know to help you learn and apply this knowledge is already willing to engage with you, and help you learn it.
Social media is simply the reapplication of basic human motivations across virtual environments.
Social media is more of a philosophy than it is an exact science. Unlike, for example, the legal industry, proficiency in social media does not require years of memorization and specialization. If you understand some basic key concepts of how the online (and real world) social economy works, you already have ability the use the tool effectively.
If you are smart, and have basic business sense/skills, you can learn all you need to know to successfully apply social media to your business within 6 months. Now, there will always be a market for social media experts because some people's time is more valuable when spent on other activities than learning social media. But there will be less demand for experts, as people realize that social media is not an abstract concept that is only understood by an elite few.
You probably already understand it, but just haven't believed that was a possibility. If not, everything you need to learn social media is available for free, including the personalized attention of others who already know how to succeed in social media.
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Alright, let the comments rip. I look forward to your opinions on this thought, even (especially!) if you disagree.