A recent blog post about The Dark Side of Twitter on Marketing Profs got me thinking about this.
Another dark side of Twitter is that tweets aren’t taken in whole, especially when each individual tweet is part of a larger conversation.
How People Misinterpret the Bible
Growing up in a Christian church, many would take passages from the Bible out of context. People would pull one verse out of the Bible to prove their point and end the discussion right then and there.
But if you were to read the 3 or 4 passages before or after that individual verse, you get a totally different meaning.
How Twitter is Like the Bible
Individuals tweets can be taken out of context, just like verses from the Bible. And who can blame anyone. Each individual, 140 character tweet that you publish is indexed as its own individual page in search engines and gets its own URL in Twitter. 
Recently, I got into a debate about ghostblogging. It went on for what seemed like hours on Twitter and went around in circles. The debate was between myself, Dave Fleet and Danny Brown.
I enjoyed going back and forth with the 2 gentlemen and stuck to my main argument which is that I see nothing wrong with delegating a task I dislike. Since writing is something I don’t like, I delegate it.
And I do. I delegate the content in my ezine that’s sent out weekly and the content in my training materials. And this is after I audio record my thoughts so that it can be written on paper in my voice.
But I have never outsourced the writing of my blog posts. Call it an ego thing, but my blog is my voice and I just haven’t felt right about outsourcing the text written on my blog.
Although I’ve been writing all the content on my blog since I launched it in 2006, this was called into question when Dave Fleet posted one of my tweets on his blog to show that I do ghostblog my blog. The tweet that I authored said:
how can “ghostblogging” be inauthentic? to me, i outsource the tasks I hate. since writing is one of them, I delegate it #pcto09
However, this individual tweet was part of a larger discussion which can be followed here. It was in reaction to something Danny Brown had said and I used a few tweets to prove my point, including the one above.
However, in trying to prove my point, it appears that I’m contradicting myself.
My Advice?
While debating an issue on Twitter, the collection of your tweets may be missed if one of your individual tweets helps someone prove their point or helps them highlight a contradiction in your argument.
Take the debate off Twitter by writing a blog post so you can elaborate on your key points. Using 140 characters to try and prove your point is like using morse code to debate an issue.
Each social media tool has its role in the conversation. Use Twitter for punchy, pithy information. Use your blog for more elaborate prose. Otherwise, you’ll get into a mess like I have where my points are not taken in whole.
I enjoyed reading your post; I am running a small website on video conferencing I am a beginner in this business. I don’t know much about it but I am searching around for material that can increase my knowledge
The border is very thin. What if I had a spelling problem and have my posts proofread before posting them? As I am not a native speaker I have some of my English text checked by a professional before I publish them and I do not think this makes them less authentic. If I could not – for whatever reason – type very well I would probably hire someone to type my blog. One step further: I do not speak French. If I wanted to take part in discussions on a French blog I had to hire an interpreter. A (fictional) example for the next step: I want to take part in a discussion about hazardous chemicals and I discuss my posts with a professor of chemistry on the phone before I post them. Who do I have to credit, the proofreader, the typist, the interpreter, my professor? Interesting question and I do not think I have the answer.
Is hiring a ghost blogger like hiring a professional photographer to have my portrait taken? What about using some make up? I guess we have to put up with different people handling their things differently.
My very personal opinion: If a language pro makes a blog easier to understand, more interesting and more accurate in its content I am more willing to read it.
Best wishes
Heiner
I think the bigger issue is the mixed messages being sent. During Dave Fleet’s session on Social Media ethics, you admit to having an uncredited ghostblogger. When asked if you take sole credit for both the ideas and the writng on your blog, you said ‘yes’. Then, out of the blue, at the end of the session, you announced that you don’t have a ghostblogger, that you’re thinking about getting one. Now, as evidenced in this post, you claim that you have a ghostblogger – again.
It’s really hard to know which statements are genuine and credible. And, given your secrecy until this point, how much of the content is yours and how much is written by your ghostblogger.
The matter of ghostblogging hinges on who’s taking credit for the writing and content, and the credibility, honesty and consistency of that person. You never want to create a situation where those things can be called into question.
Hi Leesa! If you are concerned that your comments were taken out of context, I have the audio from the session available. Let me know if you want me to post a link here.
Whitney
I don’t see anything wrong with ghostblogging. You see something wrong with it. Neither of us has budged from what we believe in since Feb 22nd.
But just because I don’t see anything wrong with ghostblogging doesn’t mean that I’m not authoring the content on this blog. I write all the content on this blog and have been since 2006. I’ve already stating in the post above why I haven’t hired a ghostblogger. I don’t need to state it again here in the comments.
This is going around and around in circles. You won’t convince me of your argument as I won’t convince you of mine. We’ve been beating this dead horse since Feb 22nd. I’m tired.
Hi Leesa,
Yes, tweets can be taken out of context if the whole conversation is missing. Yet even single tweets can say so much more than they’re given credit for.
My query stemmed around your apparent *ease* at using a ghost blogger and not mentioning that you are (nor seeing anything wrong with that):
http://twitter.com/leesabarnes/status/1238527093
My take on that statement is that you’d be misleading your readers. And apart from the content, aren’t the readers the most important aspect of any blog?