Thank you and thanks for pointing these out. (I didn’t include them as I wanted to just critique Ayelett’s post )

There is definitely a misconception that the free to low-cost entry barrier means that there isn’t value in these tools. But in reality, there is a lot of value in Sweat Equity. And knowing the differences in culture between Digg, Reddit, and 4chan isn’t something you automatically know just because you clicked a “Digg this story” button.

Knowing how to use the tools and how to use them WELL comes through practice and experience over time. Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will come- you have to give them a reason to come!

Although it is free to use most blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc., the time you invest in monitoring social media and contributing social media content has value.

Another related misconception is that the expertise that agencies and consultants offer regarding social media has a relatively low value, again, because the applications are free for anyone to use. But, I’ve invested thousands of dollars in training and countless hours of research and practice over the past four years to acquire my present level of social media expertise, and I still feel I have much to learn.

I’ve had colleagues assume what I do is easy, until they try it themselves! They then discover that it’s not an easy task to write a clear and concise blog post that has just the right amount of key words and tags, and appropriate formatting. And it’s not a simple thing to produce online videos and images worth viewing — and sharing.

So when we pass that training or expertise to our clients, or share what we have learned with our colleagues, I feel it should be understood that we are offering a service of real value. Fortunately, I think this is becoming increasingly better understood and appreciated.