Ghost-tweeting: An ethical quandary in a Web 2.0 world

When does ‘on behalf of’ cross the thin, wavy line into ‘under false pretenses’?

The client contact is well known in his field. He enjoys a loyal following of industry peers on Twitter. He posts regularly, sometimes several times a day. He gets Twitter; he finds value in the dialogue, and his followers appreciate that a well-placed exec from a Big Company is engaged with them online.

Now, a big industry trade show is coming up. He’ll be very active there, as a speaker and organizer.

The executive wants his tweet stream to reflect his activity at the show, and to highlight other happenings at the conference, as well. He’s concerned that he won’t be able to support this many obligations.

We work closely with this executive, and he has come to trust us implicitly—which leads to the ethical challenge. I’ll paraphrase the request as it came from him: