Over my decade working in web marketing, I’ve spent a ton of time at various marketing conferences, and I’ve read countless books and blogs about new media. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend over the past few years in the social media end of the communications world. Much of the advice and strategy I hear boils down to little more than “unicorns and rainbows” superstitions like “engage in the conversation” and “be awesome.” Not only has much of the industry ignored hard metrics and dollars-and-cents ROI math; there has actually been a vocal opposition to measurement and accountability.