Answered => “Why is social media measurement still so hard?” on Quora.

http://www.quora.com/Social-Media-Marketing/Why-is-social-media-measurement-still-so-hard

=> My value add (i.e., left a comment)…

Re: “Why are we still talking about impressions and likes?”

Admittedly (for some of the reasons mentioned), I cut back on my Mashable intake some time ago (so perhaps it has changed) but I would like to nominate five candidates for your list:

1) Mashable – If things are still pretty much as they were, Myth Busters could do a whole season (or two) on Mashable :)

1.5) Crap journalism in general. The blind lead the blind (i.e., “I read it on Mashable so it must be true…”),. But no one wants to take the time to take the blinders off and question the validity of the source and the accuracy of the content. Myths persist from the top (?) down and out. Ironically, social media actually enables the noise.

2) Traditional Media / Traditional Marketers – Many of whom read Mashable and accept it as gospel. Also, the metrics in question matrix well to traditional measurements (e.g., circulation). New buzz words, same ol’ game.

3) Clients – For the same reason as #2.

4) The social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) – Big numbers play well in the press. Like counting hits in the late 1990s, it doesn’t matter that the Like or the user count is meaningless, it – like sex – sells (so to speak).

5) Human laziness and aversion to analytics. You can tie this one back to #3 and #2. Quantity is easy to see. Quality (of engagement and ongoing relationship) takes a bit more thought and effort. Most organization opt for easy and/or hire for cheap (i.e., you don’t get analytcis from a “social media guru” or whatever buzz word they’re using now).

Pardon me for sounding so cynical but, you asked.