Anyone Can Be An Expert, It Has Nothing To Do With Time Served
The Blog Herald wonders what makes you an expert at something?
I had to laugh hysterically (and groan) today when someone described a blogger as “world-reknown expert on WordPressâ€. The blogger had been blogging for 4 months. I know personally that they had no PHP, WordPress, or web design experience prior to beginning blogging. Now that they have the title “expertâ€, there is no telling who will believe that claim.
Here’s what I said in the comments.
Being an expert is all about value, it has NOTHING to do with how long you’ve been smart at something. You either can, or your can’t provide value that someone else doesn’t have the skills to do. If you can, you’re an expert.
The Internet is growing so fast, with so many new ideas and tools. Because of that, new experts are created every day.
Case in point, there are now Twitter experts. We simply cannot define expertise in terms of “how long you’ve been doing something” anymore. That’s an old way of thinking.
The rules have changed. Value is value.
Filed Under Online Expertise, Online Marketing
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Which then begs the question of defining “value”.
We throw these words around as if they mean something. If they do, what do they mean? How would you know if a blog you are visiting has the value that makes it qualify as “expertise”? unless you cruise through and inspect and verify everything that is said.
There are a lot of bloggers who have a lot to say who call themselves experts but the evidence isn’t there to back them up. The volume is, but the validity isn’t.
So what does “value” mean in this context?
You’re talking about two different things then Lorelle. Value vs. someone saying they provide value.
How do we know if they’re legit or not? That’s for the reader to parse out.
Not sure what you’re arguing for? People lie to get business, it’s up to the consumer to decide what’s real value or not.
It’s up to the consumer? Then what are the clues they need to look for on a blog in order to determine if the value is real or not. There isn’t a Better Business Bureau for Blogs. No real criteria that helps us to decide who is bluster and who passes muster.
We throw around words like “expert” and “value” all the time without really exploring what they mean and what qualifications they have. I’m just asking people to think about how they use these words and how they determine the expert value of a blogger. I think bloggers need to explore this for themselves as well as for the “expert” blogs they visit.
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