Ugh, okay, the “social media generalist vs. specialist” argument is really getting tired, especially within agency circles. I’ve always thought it’s healthier to think of social media experience as a spectrum: on one end you’ll always have the laggards and on the other you’ll always have the early adopters. And it’s the space between these two extremes where the large majority of practitioners sit (i.e., the generalists). As a result, every firm needs its early adopters, it’s specialists, it trail guides to help pull the majority further across the spectrum (while the early adopters themselves continue to push forward and define new experiences, new skills and new boundaries). This being said, why some folks continue to wag their fingers at those agencies that have service teams comprised of early adopters focused on social media is, well, beyond me…
April 28, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I agree, and I’ll go you one further… Many large-to-mid-sized agencies have, for example, a focused group of national media specialists. We have such a group here (Edelman), and we had one at the 70-person firm where I worked in San Francisco from 2000 – 2002.
Of course, most every practitioner at any firm is expected to have strong media relations skills, but there are certain instances wherein calling in the specialists is advisable and even necessary.
Perhaps not surprisingly, no one feels that this is something to be debated.
Add “digital” or “social media” to the mix, and suddenly it’s supposed to be some burning issue.
So, yes… Loud agreement on this one…
April 28, 2009 at 1:59 pm
yeah, truth be told, it’s not really an “agency thing” either, most companies have been organizing people and resources around unique skillsets for decades now, “social media expertise” just being the latest iteration of that…