I’ve been working in the technology field for a long time and the thing that really keeps me engaged is the fact that it’s always changing.  Technology evolves and there is a constant need to be upgrading or planning on upgrading.  It’s made a great career for myself with a number of great projects and experiences that I can look back on with fond memories.

"IT" as it’s called has also enabled me to push boundaries that were uncomfortable for me, allowing me to grow and continue to learn about things that I needed to but was uninterested in. To my mind, this is what a career should deliver; experiences, personal growth, team participation, leadership, and providing a decent living for a family. This is something that a technology career has rewarded me with for my investment.

So with that knowledge, experience and expectation, I wonder just how big the social media market is for it’s practitioners. As every site integrates more social media and "web 2.0" technologies and methods, how will social media professionals remain in demand? Ensuing generations will be even more well versed in the concepts, tools, technologies than even the much celebrated millennials today.

As the online world continues to circle around and pick up the once-forgotten "human face" that it lacked in the .com boom/bust, it becomes harder to distinguish just what a social media professional is.  I fear that most of them will simply be absorbed into the existing professions as Marketing and Public Relations – already, the social media sphere is mostly made up of this demographic.

Am I off base here or is there really a career path for social media specialists or professionals as we know them today? Or will it just become another skill listed by bullet point on the resume of future marketing professionals? What do you think?

Photo credit: Jay Dugger