Comments on: The Ghost-Blogging Debate Ain’t Going Away, Folks

By: Mr. I

Mr. I — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:42:49 +0000

As a writer, I would not give even a single thought to ghost blogging as a career option. But I am not against it. If someone hires a ghost blogger, I have no problems with that blog till quality is there. However, it is not very difficult to spot a ghost blogger. Most of posts on such blogs are not that good as far as i have seen!

By: Mr. I

Mr. I — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:42:49 +0000

By: Whitney

Whitney — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:14:35 +0000

I really enjoyed this article. As I writer, I have never considered ghost blogging or tweeting as a job opportunity. While I don't really agree morally with this, I do, however think it is a good job opportunity for someone, like me, who is a writer and has had trouble finding work in that area. I understand that there is some soul selling in the transaction, tho.

By: Scott Hepburn

Scott Hepburn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:39:30 +0000

I couldn't agree more on the blogging vs. Twitter distinction, Gini. There's just something about Twitter (frequency? conversational tone? DMs?) that makes it seem less appropriate for ghosting.

How do we resolve this dilemma then? Twitter is such a powerful tool for bloggers. Do we cave on the ghost-Tweeting line in the sand, or do we limit ourselves to ghost-blogging and pass up Twitter's usefulness?

What's the line in the sand on forums, Facebook (and other social networks), and wikis? Does the line move depending on whether the personality is a celebrity? Do you have to be a pop star to be a celebrity? Can a CEO be a celebrity? Is it okay to ghost-Tweet Shaq, but wrong to ghost-Tweet Steve Jobs? Does a high profile mean you play by different rules than the rest of the world? What qualifies as high-profile?

Tricky stuff.

By: Kim Mance

Kim Mance — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:42:48 +0000

I don't know if there's a definitive line for me on whether it's right or wrong. But I can say is that I host an important annual conference of new media travel writers and the organizing committee and I ruled out two big-name travel journalists as keynote speakers because they have ghost bloggers and ghost twitterers to speak for them online. We felt it was a major decision on their part to discount the power of their own voices that way, and knew they obviously didn't really “get” new media even though they each had a presence.

By: ginidietrich

ginidietrich — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:04:04 +0000

Scott – this is a really important debate I think the one percent of us need to join and figure out…quickly. I have clients and prospects ask us ALL THE TIME if we'll just do this for them. We've always written feature articles and bylined columns for our clients. Heck, for some clients, we even write comments to blogs and articles and send to them to approve and post. Why is writing a blog any different?

I do think you can outsource most of social media, including ghost-writing. Where I still have an issue is Twitter. I don't think someone can/should ghost-tweet for a CEO. If the CEO can't do it, set up a different account and let someone internally (or externally) build the community. But to have a Twitter account that is supposed to be a CEO and have someone tweeting for them, I think, is not transparent.

That being said, not all businesses or CEOs need to use Twitter. It's just one tool among many that can be used to reach communication, HR, and customer service goals.