On Ghost Tweeting

You probably read about Ashton Kutcher putting his foot in his mouth over the situation with the Penn State coach with this tweet:

This pissed off quite a few people, of course, and he later tweeted: “Heard Joe was fired, fully recant previous tweet!” and “Didn’t have full story. #admitwhenYoumakemistakes.”

He then said he was going to quit Twitter. Huh? This raised a few eyebrows and lots of discussions about celebrity ghost tweeting. Was someone ghost tweeting for Kutcher? Apparently not, but now they are going to be, based on this quote in Mashable yesterday: “while I will continue to express myself through @Aplusk I’m going to turn the management of the feed over to my team at Katalyst Media to ensure the quality of it’s content.”

President discluded, I think it’s more embarrassing as an individual to admit to having a ghost tweeter than fessing up to that awful tweet, apologizing and claiming ignorance. Quitting Twitter over this situation is like taking a vow of silence for a month every time you say something stupid.

Chris Brogan discussed the idea of “outsourcing” one’s own voice in his recent article saying “Why would you give away your few chances to actually be heard and on your own terms and in your own words?”

Which got me thinking – is it going to become more common or less common for individuals and brands to hire people to tweet for them? Chris Brogan is against the idea of anyone – even celebrities – giving up their voice on Twitter, but what about brands?

Jillian Thompson, Owner of Swirl Social Media thinks that brands will continue to outsource their voices to external marketing firms and social media managers:

Lauren McCabe (my partner in crime) chimed in saying that the decision to outsource depends on the goals of the business or brand.

“Smart businesses know that Social Media can not only help with marketing but also with lead generation, HR, PR, customer service – everything. Having someone on staff to manage that is powerful.”

Local Attorney and Digital Workflow expert Ernie Svenson said that for lawyers, the worst thing to do is try social media yourself when you have no clue what you’re doing and then either trip over some lawyer advertising regulation and/or make people think you’re a greedy clueless jerk.

 What’s your take on ghost tweeting or outsourcing social media? Let me know in the comments!