So, I've been playing around with Twitter for a while now.  I have two accounts, @FurnishWEB (403 followers) and @BarryWelch (120 followers).  I like Twitter, but its value is a little hard to figure out, but today I'm addressing its constituents. 

I've managed to "friend" or "buddy" or "co-follow" (what are they called in Twitter anyway?) a few, and I emphasize FEW, really cool people in the furniture industry.  These are the people I'd hoped to connect with.  But the weird thing is I get these "Follows" from people I don't know and almost every single one is a "Social Media Guru" of some sort.

Now I'm not one against making a living and if there's a great demand for "Social Media Gurus", then the more the better.  But I don't see why a small business like ours needs more than a couple followers that are self-described "Social Media Gurus" ... or do I?  Here's a couple of Twitter Bio's of individuals that have Followed me recently:

1. Online PR, social media, blogger, mobile marketing, content creation, SEO, SEA, viral, buzz marketing, online marketing
2. Internet Marketing Aficionado, MLM Blogger, Network Marketing Junkie, Lead Generation Aficianado, Twitter Automation Savant, Social Media Moonlighter, Fun Fun?
3. Search and online marketing specialist, speaker, writer and trainer.
4. Got A Business, Group Or Product That Needs Better Promotion? Get It Jump Started !

Its kinda weird, really.  I get so many of these.  Do these Gurus outnumber regular business people on Twitter?  Are they following me in hopes I will follow them back to inflate their "follow" numbers?  Where are the furniture manufacturers and wholesalers, furniture sales reps, furniture retailers?  Will I need to hire a Guru to find them and talk to them for me?

I KNOW I'm not a social media "guru" but decided to look it up on thesaurus.com just to make sure.  A guru is a mentor.  Yep ... that's not me; not in the social media world anyway.  But the antonym is follower.  Hmmm ... interesting.

I'm confident the haze will become clearer and the difficult questions will be answered for me as I continue delving into the "secret life" of Social Media.  But for now, and from my perspective, there seems to be a glut of social media gurus seeking my friendship on Twitter.