By Chase Holtman
What’s ghost Twittering, you ask? I’d go into it at length, but my staff writers are striking at the moment. Suffice to say that a ghost Twitterer is social media’s equivalent of a ghost writer. The phenomenon has become very common among celebrities wishing to keep their fans up to date on their daily goings-on.
In his New York Times article When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking, Noam Cohen writes: “…Twitter…has become an important marketing tool for celebrities, politicians and businesses, promising a level of intimacy never before approached online, as well as giving the public the ability to speak directly to people and institutions once comfortably on a pedestal.” Arguably, outsourcing one’s tweets perpetuates the aforementioned “pedestal” in the sense that their followers are not actually conversing with the person in question. On the other hand, it’s possible for such an arrangement to effectively connect public figures with the masses, even if it’s done in an indirect manner.
Joseph Nejman is a former consultant to Britney Spears, and he once spoke about the stigma which often surrounds ghost Twittering, saying: “It’s O.K. to tweet for a brand, but not O.K. for a celebrity. But the truth is, they are a brand. What they are to the public is not always what they are behind the curtain.” For the most part, what it comes down to is this: a lot depends on the intended purpose and/or function of the Twitter account. If it’s used as a sort of PR effort, then the focus isn’t so much on providing highly intimate communication between a celebrity and the public; it’s more about distributing information, promotional updates, and the like.
Despite the delicate nature of writing in the first-person on the behalf of someone else, Transparency goes a long way. It helps to include a disclaimer in the bio section of the profile, such as the one on Bob Layton’s Twitter page. In our case, RIP Media Group manages Mr. Layton’s profile much of the time, but we’re in constant communication with him. He’s actually very much involved; most of the content that gets tweeted has come directly from Layton in one manner or another. In addition, we have a system in place for forwarding requests and questions to (and from) Bob when they come in on Twitter. To reiterate, transparency really is the key. In my experience with Layton’s account, people tend to appreciate the honesty. They’re generally very understanding about the fact that Bob has a lot of projects going on at any given time, and that he has enlisted our help for good reason.
At this point, I’d like to leave you with a tweet that I stumbled across recently, written by Bob Kieffer: “Picturing Larry King (@kingsthings) actually posting his own tweets is like me picturing my [grandma] skateboarding. It just doesn’t fit.” Whether or not Larry King utilizes ghost Twittering, his account seems to be faring pretty well regardless.
http://www.ripmediagroup.com/
