It’s fascinating to see how a market is maturing right in front of your eyes. I’m of course speaking about social media, and how it slowly but steadily is moving from an entity of its own to what it really is: a group of communication tools. One of the most intriguing phenomena is how self-proclaimed experts are being replaced by real experts.

Social media in the US is relatively mature and one of the primary signs of this is that the thought leaders are people like Brian Solis, Chris Brogan, Deirdre Breakenridge and Jay Rosen – who all have extensive knowledge of the tools, but also an understanding of its real life context. They know communication, PR and journalism, but also know the world and have expertise in where these tools fit. They are the real experts.

If we look at a more immature market, like that in Sweden, we are in a different situation. Here, the thought leaders are mostly those who have proclaimed themselves to be because of seniority: they were here first. There are of course exceptions, like Joakim Jardenberg, but around him there are a number of people who stay afloat as experts by the simple method of exclusion – they exclude people conceived as threats to their status, and whenever they get a chance hit hard at those who do not use the media in a way that they have preached. Their high status is dependent on keeping a tight group together and constantly pushing for each other on Twitter, in physical life and other forums. They are scared to death to be exposed as frauds, no matter if they are or not.

This phenomena is most obvious in panel debates or other situations when there is some type of pressure on developing your arguments. Anybody can take the stage and do a presentation of social media and what it’s good for, but only real experts can argue for and reassess their knowledge live. Sadly, there are few situations where we see this in an immature market, where panel members are most often tight and where “What?” is the central question in most panels instead of “Why?”, “How come?” and “What if?”. If you cannot answer the latter questions, I’m sad to say that you are in fact not an expert.

What excites me is that we are seeing more and more insightful people rearing their heads and gaining ground in social media, like for example long time journalist turned PR pro, Paul Ronge, who just released a book on the subject. A sure sign that the market is maturing after all. Now, I’m eagerly awaiting to see what other experts will come into their own on the social media sky over the upcoming year.