What's in a Term? What's in a Name?

Yesterday, Muhammad asked me my opinion on the difference between the terms "Buzz Marketing" and "Viral Marketing". Today I saw a Twitter message from Jeremiah that Nathan has put together a list of "social media analysts". Here are my thoughts on both.

Buzz Marketing (BM) and Viral Marketing (VM) are used interchangibly most times and the difference might be the same as having 4 quarters or a $1 bill. I would define BM as a story that is listed in a newspaper for example, and then others begin to talk about it (tv, radio, etc.). VM would be defined as a story that gets passed around from one-to-one or one-to-many-to-one as a viral disease gets passed. Agree? Disagree?

Now for "social media analyst" - what defines this term? Nathan only lists people who work at so-called research firms. He notes that Jeremiah won't be a social media analyst until October 1st when he joins Forrester Research. But what was he before 10/1? Wasn't he an analyst? Will his techniques and research change? Sure he will have access to a larger team and more resources, but his analysis will still be there.

Must an analyst be associated with a research firm? Is Jeremiah an analyst today? Of course he is (and one of the brightest!). Am I an analyst? It will be interesting to watch as the term blogger fades from popularity, will bloggers switch to calling themselves analysts?

Update: Jeremiah sent over the following definition of analyst, "An Analyst should know the space well, be able to dissect it, back it with data, and make recommendations for stakeholders in easy to understand ways."