So who’s your Female Social Media Guru, then?

Who is the UK’s Top Female Social Media Guru? asks Jamie Burke over at his blog Social Glue. To find the answer to the question, he’s arranged a little bit of a competition sponsored by Brado Social and Wordia.com. There’s a poll here where you can vote for the one of the 24 nominated candidates you’d like to see give a talk on social media.

The five most popular candidates will then speak on a ticketed, final event in April – which will be video recorded and put online for another round of voting before the final winner is announced.

I’m on the list. That feels…..scary…exciting! So my next paragraph should probably be a hard sell on why you should run off and hit my name on that poll… but you’re smarter than that:)

I don’t like to exclude men and have mixed feelings about focusing on “women” speakers only. Makes it somehow feel “easier” and less important, doesn’t it? As if women don’t have a chance when pitched against men.. But at the same time, there is something to be said for the idea of gathering a group of women to discuss what they think the most important issues within social media is today and where they all think we’re going in the future. Women aren’t always as competitive nor do they put themselves forward in the same way as men, so we’ll see a lot of unusual perspectives and thoughts.

I don’t know all of the candidates named and the organizers aren’t doing the best job of introducing the women (which makes it hard to vote!), but I still spot a great person on that list. I absolutely loved Aleks Krotoski’s (@aleksk) talk on why the web and game industry would benefit from collaborating together at the Dconstruct conference last year. She’s so great that I’d rather ask her for lessons than compete against her!

Which makes me think that even though this event is pitched with a competitive element, the strength of it will be making room for more voices rather looking for just one. That’s exactly what social media is about, don’t you think?

Go on, then, get voting!