1. Google. I can use blackhat SEO (I don?t) to not only help me own Google, but ruin the reputations of my competitor ?experts? into the bargain. Scratch this one from the list.
2. Twitter followers must be over 2,000. Awesome ? I?ll get Justin Bieber to market my company today ? do you have his number? Or, I?ll get TwitterAdder to get me over the magic number and then I?ll be good to go (once I finish high school, obviously, unless I can get a note from my mum).
3. Twitter Lists. This can be useful, but again, it depends on what you?re being listed for. If I?m on 100+ lists, but 25 are for my Batman comics, then I?m not really going to be much good, am I?
4. Klout score of 30+. There?s so much wrong with basing a reputation on an automated measurement tool that I?ll just leave it at that.
5. Facebook friends of 1000+. Curious ? how do my college friends, ex-lovers that hate me but haven?t removed me from their friends, my baker and the newspaper delivery boy that are part of my Facebook friends make me an expert in social media? Some of my ex-girlfriends would say I?m anything BUT social?
6. LinkedIn network of 500+. Have you worked with each of these 500+? Have you made their business more successful? If you?re only connected with them because you have LinkedIn?s icon on your blog?s sidebar and you?ve never really connected otherwise, then they?re faux connections.
7. Facebook fan page 250+ Likes. I can buy 1,000 fans for $197 from uSocial ? does that make me an expert at social media, or an expert at gaming the system?
8. An active blog with active comments. Don?t disagree too much here, except don?t get caught up in the comments game. Two words ? Seth Godin.
9. Profiles on every other site. Um?. yikes! Where?s the strategy in this? Where?s the benefit? Where?s the time management and being focused on where you need to be? Say you set up on 100 networks, have a basic profile, then are only active on 5. The other 95 are now dead, but anyone stopping by and seeing you haven?t updated since 2009 will then ask, why should I trust this guy with my social media needs?