The value of ghost written commentary

Today it was revealed that Barack Obama has never used Twitter before, something that perhaps the 2.1 million people that follow his account may be a little concerned about.

It seems indicative of a growing trend though. The higher up an individual gets, the more valuable their opinion and knowledge becomes, but the less often they actually share any of it. It’s not just Twitter accounts that are ghost written by PR departments. I dare say most of the columns written in newspapers and magazines are done in the same way.

If what you’re reading is really the work of a PR professional rather than the individual you’re hoping to hear from, it has to be asked, what is the point of it?

After all we live in a society where honesty and integrity are valued, yet here we have high power individuals essentially duping their followers. Do those 2.1 million people tuning into Obama’s Twitter account care that it’s not actually him they’re getting views from? Maybe, maybe not, but for me it’s a matter of personal integrity that if you’re putting your name to something then it better darn well be you that’s producing it. Anything else is simply not on.

President Obama Admits That He’s Never Used Twitter, But Thinks The Chinese Should Be Able To (techcrunch.com)

6 thoughts on “The value of ghost written commentary”

Funny you mention this on the same day as Nick Clegg calls for the Queens speech to be scrapped. Something tells me that she doesn't write that herself 🙂

What gets my goat is that Obama was elected off the back of a huge effort on social media, giving people the perception that they had a say in things, an involvement in the political process. Now he proves that he's just as bad as every other politician. No integrity whatsoever, and the same goes for anyone that publishes something under their own name that is the work of another.