Social Media Certificates?

Well this blog post by Beth Harte was definitely something that I found odd. http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/01/social-media-certification-for-the-low-low-price-of%E2%80%A6.html She goes on to discuss how she has been offered Social Media Marketing certificate courses for around $1500 to become certified in social media marketing. Now here is where even someone with my limited knowledge of the subject see the total scam. Being taught how to use Facebook and Twitter in a crash course for that money does not seem like a wise career move. The real social media experts are practicing and using blogs and other medias on a daily basis. Now as she discusses how many companies will see this certificate as actually valid and bypass real marketers in social media. To me this is the real issue and not just the scam of the certificate. Somewhere someone got a great job because they wrote a $1500 check and spend 2 hours online learning to post on Twitter and Blogger.