I’ve written about this before, but I feel like it’s getting worse. What is the deal with everyone on Twitter claiming to be a “Guru” or “Expert” at something?  What happened to being willing to learn?  And also, with the speed that technology is moving, how on Earth can anyone claim to be a “Guru” at anything?

I read something the other day uncovering five “social networking myths” and shedding a little light on this weird thing that everyone is trying to figure out.  After all, this person that wrote this is a “guru” and then the person that linked to it is a “guru” and since I’m a “guru” I must need to read it and then blog about it so that I can prove my “guru-ness” to you all.  See how that works?

Anyway, this article claims that one of the myths on the internet is that you shouldn’t call yourself a Guru.  Meaning, you should call yourself one?  Am I reading this right?

“Your social media presence needs more assertiveness. Don’t shy away from authoritative words when crafting your Twitter bio.”, it says.  For instance, the words “official,” “founder,” “speaker,” “expert,” “guru,” and “author” are a common characteristic of highly followed Twitter users. They become a reputation mechanism that can earn you more attention.

Interesting.  That’s all I need to do?  Tell people how awesome I am, and boom, I can get more attention?

See, I’ve started un-following some of these folks because if that’s the “creative” advise I’m getting from “guru’s” I think I’m good.  I’d rather really focus on the task at hand and ignore what’s going to become a reputation mechanism to earn me more attention.

Now, before everyone thinks I’m just bucking the system to buck the system, I will say that there is legitimate advise out there from folks like Seth Godin, who I consider to be an actual marketing “guru”, though I don’t think it says it on his Twitter bio.  In fact I think Seth is more about killing it at your job and becoming something worth talking about, instead of talking about yourself.

In a world where everyone is writing the book, I’d rather live the life worth writing about.

So, no, you’ll never hear me call myself a “guru”, “expert”, “founder” or anything like that…. but then again… I’m not.  Someday I’d like to be a magician though.