A Hard Hitting Totally Serious Blog Entry from @Amyvernon and @Stuartcfoster

Beards are synonymous with manliness, holiness, ridiculousness and various other 'nesses.

They can be found on the manliest men throughout history: Hercules, Zeus, Jesus, Dad. The list goes on over thousands of years and miles of beards. So it comes as no surprise that beards are responsible for well over 90% of a person's Social Media success.

The first question Amy and I asked ourselves was: Does the Goatee/Soul Patch count? After some hard thinking (and scratching of beards) we decided that it could be counted...although the ratio of facial hair to success definitely comes into play.

Our first case study: @Chrisbrogan

Chris is famous for his beard … so famous, in fact, that he received distressed tweets when he shaved his on December 28th. But he lost his powers over Social Media that day for a brief period (think Sampson and Delilah, but with a beard). Without the beard, Brogan is merely a great speaker, Tweeter, consultant and marketing expert. With the Beard he becomes a … Social Media God, a one-man Twitter Army.

Second Case Study: @MrBabyMan

Andy is the all-time top digger for one reason: The Beard. It isn't the quality submits, genuine kindness or insightful commenting. Not even The Drill Down is responsible for Andy's success. It's all a product of his beard. C'mon! Look at that thing: It's magnificent.

Third Case Study: @NowSourcing

Brian is a force to be reckoned with in social media marketing circles. In fact, his beard is so manly that it goes by its own name, NowSourcing. Brian himself has just one follower at @BrianWallace. But he names his beard NowSourcing and suddenly he's on 2,700 followers and counting. The beard's gotten him a blogging gig on Collective Thoughts and is extremely nice to SM newbies. He must spend hours on it every day.

Fourth Case Study: @Msaleem

For social media marketing/consulting you won't find many much better Mu. Second only to Andy on Digg, Mu has carved out a niche for himself with blogs, consulting and his contribution to The Drill Down. But that beard is what sets him apart. He is a man among boys, thanks to that beard. In fact, we're pretty sure that Reg (@zaibatsu for the three people who don't know) doesn't have a beard just because it's impossible to compete in this realm.

Fifth Case Study: @Dan360man

A newcomer to beards, Daniel is no newcomer to social media. Daniel almost singlehandedly brought the Tribune Co. into the digital age, and it did it at a great handicap. No more. Now that he's growing his own, he's managed to get the top editor at the company's flagship Chicago Tribune to start a Twitter account. Sam Zell can only be next.

Sixth Case Study: @jasonfalls

Jason's beard sort of leaps out at you from his Twitter photo. It's almost a goatee, but it's attached to the mustache and almost convinces those who aren't into facial hair that he doesn't quite have facial hair – though it's more than enough for those devotees. His 7,000+ Twitter followers have obviously been hypnotized by that neatly trimmed masterpiece. His mastery of social media marketing and brand-building most certainly is due to his mastery of the beard.

Seventh Case Study: @Mashable

This one is for the ladies … we didn't forget about you Here we have a prime example of the elusive "devilishly charming and sexy" beard. The founder of Mashable.com Pete Cashmore doesn't owe all his success to hiring great bloggers, getting the scoop on upcoming social technology and being the best source of social news online. No, sir. He owes it all to that dashing beard.

tagged as #socialmediabeard, beard social, beards, funny, social beard, Social Media, social media beard, twitter