In his most excellent article, The History and Evolution of Social Media(http://bit.ly/hadhZv), Cameron Chapman states that the precursors of SM started with Usernets (Newsgroups) and BBS's (Bulletin Board Services) as early as 1977. Modern SM started with dating sites and forums 20 years later, including habitats such as Six Degrees and LiveJournal, as well as MMORPG's (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games), like World of Warcraft. He further declares that the first true online community network was Friendster, in 2002. At the time of this writing, that makes Social Media as we currently know it less than a decade old.

Such erudition brings claims of having 10+ years of experience in SM into a somewhat questionable and dubious light. Giving benefit to the argument to the contrary via allowance of credit for activity with earlier outriders, anything greater than 14 years forbearance is both contingent and disputable.

Expertise is defined by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert) as, " ... a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study." The keyword here is "and." Both real world empiricism AND formal education. Dictionary.com (http://bit.ly/gkG4f4) describes an expert as skilled and trained.

While it is difficult (for me, at least) to ascertain the earliest Social Media/Internet marketing educational programs, the text, e-Commerce: business. technology. society, by K.C. Laudon and C.G. Traver, was published in 2007 by Pearson - Prentice Hall. At best, this places formal training curriculums beginning at or about mid-decade.

There is no discord that there currently exist SM professionals. Such industry leaders have in fact elevated Social Media to its extant status as the most used function of the WWW, even surpassing the access of adult content. However, time to become an individual with both an advanced degree specifically in Social Media as well as having enough work place participation to qualify as a delineated expert has not passed (some HR executives designate authentication levels as: graduation to 3 years, entry level; 3-7 years, experienced; greater than 7 years, expert).

The expostulations against the need for academics in Social Media that are often offered (one learned communications administrator proclaimed that SM was simply another form of communication, like cell phones, and certainly no schooling was needed for their use) would seem to fly in the face of the oft stated concerns about ROI in online media marketing efforts. Controversial debate could in fact be made for the diametrically opposed.

Proposals for innovation in SM marketing and management practices can be found aplenty. The majority of postings on such sites as Social Media Today, Social Media Club, SocialMediopolis, etc., are listings of what a fortuitous and advantageous SM campaign pacesetter should or should not be. Yet such agendas rarely, if ever, mention the need for scholastics.

It is easy to surmise that in the future prototypical enlightenment will become time-honored. One observant personage discerned that change is akin to the mating of elephants: it takes place at high levels, occurs amidst much stomping and shouting, and requires two years to produce results. ;-) That de facto experts will one day man the helm of Social Media management conveys the impression of destiny. Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts?