Rohn Jay Miller: This is the 10th or 11th time I've seen someone write at length about "snake oil salesmen" who pretend to know about social media but don't. I have three concerns with this meme: 1. What is the standard by which a consultant could rightly be called a "snake oil salesman?" What would he/she need to not know or what deceptive practices would constitute this offense? I've never seen a clear definition--just the gripe. 2. As you point out, even a passable consultant could create real benefit just by doing the basics well within a company, and therefore have turned the client into a more social enterprise. Not really "snake oil" to me. 3. Jung said "anger is the mask of fear." If experts in social media are angry about "snake oil salesmen," even though those salesmen can't readily be identified by a commonly understood set of standards of behavior, what exactly are the passers of this meme afraid of? Do they fear inside that they too will be called "snake oil salesmen?" Is this inoculation through accusation? Or perhaps that the whole social media art and craft will generally become regarded as more dotcom BS? I admire Stephen Baker and his work, so I intend no disrespect here. It's just I've heard the "snake oil" gripe in those exact words again and again, but never seen a definitive indictment.  Oct. 16, 2009, 5:37pm dave: the question then is hat are good stratergies for social media consultants and businesses?remember it takes a wise person to simplify.  Oct. 9, 2009, 6:43am Neil: Steve, Before the new sheriff shoots the wrong people, you might want to look more closely at the last ten years. Cluetrain Manifesto was published a decade ago. In 1999, Evan Williams was still developing Pyra (which later became blogger) and hadn't yet founded Twitter. Facebook didn't exist, Mark Zuckerberg was 15, and Adam Kmiec was a year from graduating from U Minn. The linked blogs seem to be going after the "shining opportunity" by disparaging the competition. That's a classic defensive position that gets reinvented every cycle. If you want a thought leader, hire someone who's capturing new high ground. Caveat emptor.  Oct. 7, 2009, 4:03pm Scott Bauman: Stephen, I don't believe in a sheriff here any more than I believe in one for media relations or other traditional PR. Common sense is the best defense. This doesn't mean you must demand analytics for EVERY thing you do (because that can leave out important branding/awareness initiatives), but you should at least make sure that whatever tactic you deploy (or have deployed for you) is helping with a stated business goal (e.g, reach into a new market), that it isn't so complex you don't understand how it works (start small if you have to) and that it has some simple way to benchmark success that intuitively (not necessarily always mathematically) relates back to your stated goal.  Oct. 5, 2009, 1:16pm