These references are done. Played out. Finished.
It’s a new decade, so let’s put them away forever. Please.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you probably don’t need to read any further. But just in case, here’s the deal: Guru, et. al. were terms used throughout the 00′s to lend a little tech savvy speak to your bio in an informal (zany?) way. These idioms were little one word cues that branded their designees as in-the-know. Geek marketer code.
(Guru is a little older. Still, though… ugh.)
Okay, I’m going to give you the fact that I am a self admitted word geek. I’m hypersensitive to language. When people start using words that are fashionable, I’m the first to ignore them. To each their own.
But these words are too egregious to be ignored anymore. I’m calling for an immediate boycott. This is a cease and disist order from saying anyone is a “blogging ninja”, a “WordPress jedi” or (gasp) a “social media guru”.
It’s over.
But far be it from me to be a critic without proposing a solution. For the 10s, here are the words that will be quirky designations for expert:
General, Wrangler, and Matador.
Go ahead. Try them out. That guy who gave the keynote on Twitter is a General. Four Stars.
See? It works great.
Jill is a total wrangler when it comes to Facebook.
I guess what I’m trying to point out is that, no matter what catchphrase people are using, information and the folks that wield it are either useful or not. They either help or they don’t. They either use their powers for good, or… hey, now I’m doing it!
You get the point. It’s probably best to just let your actions do the talking, rather than calling yourself something or other that, let’s face it, 10 years from now will sound like a catchphrase from a bad sitcom.
But if you’re dead set on trying, I hope you’ll use the ones I put out there. If you start using them now, your vocabulary will be way ahead of the pack when the rest of the Twitter-verse comes around.
You’ll be a language matador.
Tags: business trust, content, marketing strategy, Social Media, twitter