I agree with your premise that vendors can hijack a good idea like social learning and turn it into something that is "dummed down". On the other hand, we should be educating the so called buyers of the "social snake oil". People stop buying snake oil when they are educated about the product and what they think it might do. Many have good intentions, they want to stay relevant and use the latest technologies. They need to be educated about social media so that they do not support the "social snake oil" vendors.