Once upon a time, when I was seven, there was an awesome show on PBS called Ghost Writer. It was about a group of teenagers who had a ghost friend that manipulated text throughout New York City to help them solve mysteries (a 90’s version of Nancy Drew). While PBS took a very literal translation of the term “ghost writer” for their television show, Twitter users have taken the more common interpretation of an author who writes for someone else. But is this an acceptable Twitter practice?

Twitter has been built on the idea of sharing and connecting with friends, like minds, and people of interest. More than likely, your best friend down the street isn’t employing a ghostwriter to tweet for them on a regular basis because they have the time and energy to tweet when and how they want. Then there’s another category of people: celebrities. Twitter has opened up a world of possibility for us “regular folk” to connect with the rich and famous; or are we? In a New York Times article published last year, Noam Cohen reveals the truth about stars’ Twitter accounts.  Celebrities like Britney Spears employ teams to tweet for them on a regular basis.

ghostbuster

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of celebs that do their own tweeting. Martha Stewart tweets for herself for five minutes a day and has attracted two million followers to her account. She recently spoke at TwtrCon and shared her success and insight with attendees. Other stars that use Twitter without a team of writers include Lance Armstrong and Shaquille O’Neal.

So maybe celebrities are busy, and they need some help Tweeting—fine; I just think they should disclose that they are doing so.  Twitter has exposed a more honest and realistic web, so embrace it and don’t try to hide.

Celebrities are brands in and of themselves, but where do companies fit in the world of ghost tweeting? There are entire companies devoted to utilizing Twitter for their clients (or really, “as” their clients), and this is where I have to draw the line. It is one thing (a very good thing, really) to teach your clients the importance of Twitter and how to use it effectively, but you are treading in murky waters when you start tweeting for them.  While I’m not sure if this is currently the case, at one point even social media guru Guy Kawasaki had ghostwriters tweeting under his account name. I’m sure they had wonderful insight, but who knows, because Guy got all of the credit!

Twitter revolves around this honest, open stream of communication, and when a ghost is involved, honesty is lost. People have the ability to trust brands if you give them reason to. Best Buy has done an amazing job of building their brand on Twitter utilizing their employees on Twelpforce. Based on the way the account is set up, followers know that they aren’t continually talking to the same person, but they feel that they are connecting with many knowledgeable people who all work for a trusted company. These employees aren’t acting as ghostwriters—they are still themselves, employees of Best Buy, available to answer your questions. (Not to mention that these employees probably know the ins and outs of the company better than any ghostwriter ever could!)

Call me old fashioned, but I’ll stick to “honesty is the best policy” when it comes to Twitter (and life, in general). I will happily Tweet for Ivie on a regular basis, and you will always know it is me because of the CoTag attached to the end of my tweets. Companies should embrace the voice of their employees and utilize their knowledge openly (and in the case of celebrities, perhaps some of them should learn to embrace their own voices, too). Honest brands elicit loyal customers, and loyal customers make honestly happy companies.