Nope. But I will add that the handful of companies I've done social media consulting for have all called me an expert and clamored for more! I didn't pin that label on myself, but hey! If the shoe fits, wear it. At least I have the numbers (both on Twitter and here on FriendFeed, for instance) to back it up and those numbers were not obtained by using any tricks ("gaming the system" as you call it?) whatsoever, no automation, no spam, no special tools, no SEO voodoo. So what exactly is your beef? I'm not the one who stuck my foot in it by going off on experts, you did! There are real experts out there who do indeed call themselves experts, and they do have the numbers to back up their claims. The numbers are important. It is ridiculous to expect your clients to believe that a small handful is enough. If you've managed to have a successful consultancy with small numbers, then great. Lucky you! :-) But please don't act like small is beautiful just because you don't have the big numbers yourself, it is a suspicious tack for you to take. You know it, too, unless you aren't too bright, and you seem like a bright enough guy, really. - Robert Morrison

Bob, we've had more than a handful of clients - both smaller boutique brands and global corporations who look to us for help with social media. It has nothing to do with luck. I don't need a large number of followers, personally, as long as we're able to help our clients leverage social media platforms (in addition to Twitter) to reach their target audiences. 64,000 followers is meaningless if your target demographic doesn't use Twitter. You're giving more credence to my belief that people in social media are chasing their own tails - your personal follow numbers are great, but they don't help your clients unless you're shilling for them in your Twitter stream. I don't need a bunch of social media people to follow me - I need my clients' desired audiences to engage with my clients. - Eric Elkins

This is great stuff - inspiring me to write another Examiner piece on all this. Our clients would much rather I spend time building awareness about their products and services than building a following for myself or my company. - Eric Elkins

You keep missing the point of the discussion. You criticized people for calling themselves experts. There is nothing wrong with it, as long as it's true. One way of judging this is by the numbers. My point was (and is) that if people call themselves social media experts look at their numbers (this doesn't have to be just the number of followers on a social network, but it is indeed a good indicator) Personally I'm going to trust the one who has proven himself by "walking the talk". Others (including yourself) can judge for themselves... :-) Other metrics could be "tweet efficiency (if we are talking about Twitter), or the "quality" of the followers, or do they cluster in a desired target demographic?. But hey, don't just bash experts for calling themselves experts. You were claiming that one should immediately discount someone who calls himself and expert. That's ridiculous. You should immediately discount someone who hasn't proven (or can't easily prove) that he's an expert. Most so-called social media "experts", "gurus", or "prodigies (as you call yourself on LinkedIn, and personally I think that's way more pretentious than "expert") would KILL to get my numbers(64K+ on Twitter and climbing) for instance, and those were obtained through skill, not tricks. Enough said, I think. :-) - Robert Morrison