We all know that you call an incompetent medical professional a “quack.” This epithet derives, according to Wikipedia, from the word “quacksalver,” which itself comes from a Dutch word, kwakzalver, meaning “boaster who applies salve.” In the medieval markets, the sellers of patent medicines would shout, or “quack,” to get attention for their wares.

The same kind of phenomenon has developed with the rise of the social media field. As opportunities for communications practitioners to “quack” their salves have dwindled in other, more traditional markets like advertising, public relations, or marketing collateral materials, a coterie of counselors and consultants with reasonable skills in these areas have found it necessary to reinvent themselves to respond to the demand from clients for these new communications skill sets. [read]

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