The social marketing space is still in it's infancy.  We have learned a lot over the past few years, but we don't yet know it all.  The massive influx of talent with fresh perspectives, different backgrounds and diverse interests pose incredible opportunity for our industry.  Additionally, an influx of new talent will help us scale as an industry.  Which is why I'm puzzled when so many put down these new faces down by calling them names or complaining about their lack of experience or understanding.

These new faces have a lot to learn.  It our responsibility as the "old guard" to work together to advance our field by sharing our perspective and lessons learned, as well as being open minded to new solutions and approaches.

While it is easy and sometimes popular to point out that most people working in social media aren't experts this doesn't really help anyone (unless it's in a growth and learning context).  Putting others down doesn't make the speakers/author/blogger more impressive.  Putting others down doesn't help grow our industry, and it certainly doesn't create a welcoming and collaborative environment.

Let's try to stay positive.  If we must address the fact that many experts have little expertise, let's do so from a perspective of collaboration and learning, exploring the opportunity rather than putting everyone else down.  We all live in glass houses, and increasingly our houses are all in the same block fishbowl.