I’m going to divert from a previous stance and disagree with Mark on this one, we don’t need a CSMO just like we didn’t need CBOs (Chief Blogging Officer) back in 2005-6. Hey, I was a CBO (CBO for Qumana Software) and looking back on it, I think it was a foolish way to draw attention to the importance of the medium as a communications tool.

Creating a new “Chief Whatever Officer” is a hard sell within companies. How long did it take for the CIO to be accepted? Five, Ten years? Yes, we think now that a CIO is key. Who else is going to manage our IT departments? IT is so key to our business…yeah we all know it wasn’t always that way. If memory serves IT grew out of R&D, Finance, and Engineering departments, folks who started to really crank on computers early on.

Is a CSMO any different? Won’t it become a business critical function? Yes, but I think it will become a business critical core competency not a job function. SocMed in a few years will become like using a computer, or email, or being web savvy. Isn’t it expected that you can ask pretty much anyone at a meeting or in an office to Google something, email an attachment or book a meeting online?

Wouldn’t you raise an eyebrow if a new employee said “What’s a Google?” or “Wow, I’ve never used email before…”? Heck I might find the person that hired them and smack them upside the head (“What are we going to do with a person who isn’t computer savvy in this office!?!”).

I think Twitter/microblogging, blogging, RSS, even basic social media monitoring will just be something everyone will need to know how to do. When? If you’re in a tech company, umm, a year ago? For everyone else? I think within three years, but if you want to have an edge over other potential hires, I’d say right, freakin’ now.

Social Media seems to be thriving in this economic downturn so if you can walk into an interview and show your employer how you quickly learned about the company, it’s competitors, and what people think about their brands, I’m betting you have a good shot at the job.

That doesn’t make you a CSMO, it makes you employable.

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Next week’s meeting is going to feature our very own social media conscierge – Tris Hussy.

Tris will be asking the question: “Do you get the message?” He’ll be exploring the idea that at any given moment we can use a myriad different ways to get a message out, but which ones work best and when? Also, have our expectations of communications kept up with our technologies?

He’ll be giving tips on how to choose the best tool to get your particular message out – should you use Twitter? Create a Facebook group? Create a microsite? Or all of the above. Tune in to find out.

The meeting takes place April 21st at Republic (958 Granville St) at 7pm

About Tris:

Long-time blogger and social media expert, Tris got his start in tech running laboratories and doing tech support. After years of launching websites for the pharmaceutical industry, Tris jumped into blogging on a whim and hasn’t stopped yet. One of Canada’s first professional bloggers and recognized as a leading expert in both social media and business blogging, Tris continues to charge ahead pushing the edges of social media with whatever new technology catches his eye. Tris is sought after as a guest blogger on leading blogs including ZDNet and is writing an introduction to blogging book due out in mid-2009.

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