There are two words that I really don’t enjoy when put together: social and media. I used to love it, but I think it’s been co-opted by all of these 40-year-old “Social Media Experts” who try to sell their Twitter Marketing Skills and their ability to increase your personal brand’s power by telling you to record a video talking about yourself. Yes, they may have a point about the importance of a good online brand, but to me, they’re all like the creepy “pull my finger” uncle that you always see in the movies. And they’re ruining it for the rest of us.

Now this isn’t to say I’m some sort of Social Media Expert or that I don’t think some of those people are actually good at what they do, but I do think that I get this stuff more than the average Joe and these Experts who learned about Twitter from a book are giving people like me a bad rap.

Me? I like to stick to phrases like “the social web,” if only not to come across as one of these half-baked get-rich-quick “marketers.”

The reality is, though, that the social web is hugely powerful and important. It’s obvious that it’s changing the way we do everything. You can’t really fault people for trying to capitalize on it, but they’re perpetuating this idea that social media is this thing that only experts or geeks can figure out. It’s not. The social web is one of these “by the people, for the people” things, and now, more than ever, non-experts can use the web to do anything their heart desires. It’s that awesome.

This video puts it into perspective:

(thanks john battelle)

Over the course of the last year, I’ve managed to convince a pretty significant portion of my non-geek, real-life friends to give this stuff a try and guess what? They love it. It’s not just a way to put the “social media” bullet point on your resume like those personal branding experts or the career center have been telling you to do. It’s actually fun.

So go on now – don’t be afraid. Go get yourself a Twitter account. Go try out Flickr or Tumblr or Vimeo or the countless other sites out there that will have you up and running with a few clicks. You’ll find out what this social web thing is all about first hand and I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy it.