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Dachis Group is a consulting firm. RedMonk is an analyst firm. Both are in the services world, which is dominated by companies that hire lots of people to be account executives, project managers and fill a host of other roles.

What makes these companies a bit different? Both are developing or collaborating on applications with developers and software companies. RedMonk has recently released an analytics tool. This past week, Dachis worked with MindTouch to release an alternative to Basecamp.

Services firms like Dachis and RedMonk are adapting in new ways to the fast-paced development world. It's not simple but by no means is it as complex as it once was to develop applications. And from our estimations, it will become increasingly important as apps offer increasing business intelligence and the ability to provide self-serve tools any customer can use.

Is social media nothing but snake oil? Sometimes it can seem that way. As economies shift and trends emerge, would-be experts start popping up like weeds. Really good social media experts are a treasure - and they're not always easy to find.

In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren't full of hot air - they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that's all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples' services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.