Whose Tweet Is It Anyway?

Using ghostwriters for autobiographies has been a common trend among many celebrities for many decades. However, using ghostwriters for social media is relatively new, and for many it is hard to swallow.

Celebrities use social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus to stay in touch with their fans, to promote their latest endeavors, and to maintain a healthy online presence. Twitter is one of the largest social media websites in the world with a large number of verified celebrity accounts. Most of the celebrities tweet multiple times a day, and their tweets are usually about a variety of topics.

Celebrity Tweets

It was reported a couple of years ago in The New York Times that many of the celebrities and political figures were using ghost writers and social media managers to tweet for them. Some of the celebrities have made it public that they have hired people to manage their Twitter accounts.

As a fan, I have somewhat mixed emotions toward celebrities using ghost twitterers. If I follow a celebrity on Twitter, I like to believe that the tweets are coming from them personally.
However, many agents and managers are of the opinion that a celebrity is similar to a brand. Some of them are exactly what they appear to be and some of them have personas. It is debatable whether the fans are more interested in the persona or the person, but one thing is certain, they are interested.

Through Twitter, fans can ask questions to their favorite celebrities, confess their love for them, ask for retweets, go on crazy rants against them and give them feedback about their latest movie, song, act etc. The fans like to believe that their favorite celebrities would take the time to read their 140 character long tweet, and would take the time to come up with their own 140 characters.
A large number of new celebrities manage their own twitter account, especially those who grew up with social media. Those who hire help to tweet for them, still ensure that the tweets represent their point of view.

In my opinion, celebrities should manage their own Twitter accounts because the fans need to know they are reading from and writing to the original person not a ghost twitterer. What is your opinion on the matter?

[Image via threeboy]