Tim Bursch

I'm in. I also think this is something @wordpost has shown interest in joining for quite a while. Be sure to reach out to him.

This is the direction Social Media NEEDS to go to thrive long into the future.

Chris and Josh,
Thanks for extending this topic. I appreciate both of your voices. I think we have an opportunity to both include and help each other go deeper. How that looks could be a variety of events/forums. I'm looking for some smaller consistency personally.

I don't mean to offend people, but seriously, how can anyone have a "201" discussion when the "101" information is not defined? I've been involved in "social media" going back to the days of bulletin board groups, and even I don't deem myself a master of the skills and tools. These things change on an almost weekly basis. New tools and technology come out all the time. How do you even know you do social media "right" when it hasn't been defined? If you do think that you are that "advanced" then I call on you to educate the rest of the tribes rather than exclude them. How "social" is exclusion?

Rick Mahn has the right idea about this and it is part of his vision for the Future of Social Media Breakfast (MSP) that will be rolled out this year. There has to be some common terms and best practices established, but that will have to be defined by the community as a body and most likely in a wiki format so it can live and breath and change as the technology does.

AS to the sour grapes of people not feeling they are "getting" anything new out of the discussions, then shame on all of you. You should be actively framing the discussion and pushing thought out to those directions. There has to be pioneers in any field, if you consider yourself competent here, then by all means blaze the new trail, innovate, test, record, and then come back and tell us the stories! That's what will make our community great!

-Christopher Lower - @MrChristopherL

I respectfully disagree that 101 information hasn't been defined. Trust Agents. Six Pixels of Separation. Permission Marketing. Cluetrain Manifesto. These are just some of the books that speak to the fundamental shift in communications from mass media to social media... from closed and guarded to complete transparency... from owning your brand to being a steward of your brand within a community. Boom. Theory 101.

There are still more books like Radically Transparent that talk about the baby step progression of tactics: 1) Find your audiences 2) Listen before you talk 3) Participate by being helpful 4) Use social feedback to drive internal process change and 5) Rinse and repeat. Boom. Tactics 101.

Finally, there are a million blog posts and guides on how to use Reader, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, Youtube, etc. Boom. Tools 101.

I agree that there is still a lot of important information that needs to be defined and understood, but I would also encourage us to be willing to give ourselves credit for what we've learned so far as well. Maybe we aren't ready for 201 but I think we're at least in the second semester of 101.

If your going to assume the authors of those books got it right, then you have theory. If we are taking a consensus of the same message form the books as theory adopted by several of the "experts" we might have a consensus of the group that agrees on theory.

I disagree on tactics. It's going to be different in each instance. What may work 100 percent for you on Social Media might not or probably won't work for me, unless we have the exact same audience, demographic, message, etc. Tactics are also going to be different for every field based on outside regulations and rules. Tactics then must be adapted, tested, redefined.

I agree that we are further along on the path than some, but still, the discussion being purported here and on other's recent blogs is that we're ready to move on and the community doesn't need or have desire to sit through the discussions or even participate as some have opined in the discussions wit the "newbs". I am of the opinion it is better for our whole community to educate and share to strengthen our community, and that those who are now 101.5 or "201" level, need to continue to move the bar along for the rest of us.

If we want to talk about proficiency of tools - then we are truly closer to saying we can be proficient with a tool. You can master how to basically operate Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, et. al.

Again, I'm not saying we're social media naifs, yet I think we are a bit too much of the "social media guru" as we claim expertise in a medium that changes every day. I am really glad for the discussion, and again, think we have such a wonderful community, that we should be able to help shape the best practices for social media.

Now I think I see what you're saying. I agree that it's important not to go off and start touting "social media guru" status once you've learned to master Tweetdeck. Leaving the greater community behind once you've had your "ah-ha" moment would be against the very spirit of social media and proof that you really haven't learned anything, right?

That said, I think there is still an opportunity, as Tim points out, for folks to bring things to next level... not only to keep things exciting and new for those who believe in social media and have "drank the Koolaid," but also to find new and easier ways to bring up the community as a whole. In the end, regardless of the name of the event, I'm just eager to learn more, meet new people and be helpful. Good discussion!

Chris,
I hear you. I certainly don't have all of this figured out either. I am not saying this is the only way to learn more or help the community. It might be one way though.

RE: exclusion. I am the last one to promote exclusion. A mastermind group is smaller to encourage accountability and growth. I think transformation/learning can happen in both large and small settings. This just might be one option among many.

I hope we learn to collaborate and help each other do great things.

Tim,

I would love to be apart of something like this. I agree with Jen a ton!

Let me know,

-Adam

I'd love to be a part of the mastermind group! And why just stick to social media? If we got a good group together, there's no reason why we couldn't look at things like web analytics, email marketing, SEO, etc. Then we'd really be cooking.

BTW, I don't have all these concepts nailed down. Heck, I'm still practicing 101. I just want to go deeper and learn more to help more people.