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The Ghost and Our Integrity

Written by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: Audiences view social media as the safe ground for truth and integrity. It's the place where they can share and obtain real information in honest and meaningful ways. The place they can learn about prospective or current partners, get a feel for their thoughts and perspectives.

The Ghost and Our Integrity

The topic of ghostblogging and Tweeting is popping up everywhere. I even saw a Tweet last week touting that a VA (Virtual Assistant) can write your company's blog. OMG! I can't believe we're even having this debate. Especially among those who claim to believe in integrity and honesty above all, who strive to create trusted relationships with our customers.

So, answer this question for me.

Do you trust someone who presents a piece of work as their own, when it's not? In some arenas we call that plagiarism, or even fraud. In school we called it cheating. Remember? You flunked if you got caught having someone else write your report or thesis.

So why do we think it's OK because it's business?

By now you can probably guess where I stand on this subject. To me, anytime your represent someone else's work as your own it's cheating - even if you did pay them to do the work.And if you're the one who did the work for hire, and you allow someone to misrepresent it - well, to me you're just as ot of integrity as they are.

I can hear my associates telling me all the reasons it's OK to ghostblog, ghostTweet etc. "CXO's use speechwriters, they need help learning to blog, it's OK if there isn't a byline, they don't have the time." BLAH BLAH, BLAH. Or there's that personal agenda, "But I need the money!" Let's take those one at a time:

• CXO's use speechwriters. Yes, they do. But they get involved in creating that speech and they deliver it themselves. The speechwriter doesn't give the speech now do they? Don't try to tell me CXO's give input on every ghost blog post - we all know better. Many of them don't even read what gets posted.

• Companies don't know how to blog. That's true. So teach them. Just don't do it for them and have them take the credit.

• There's no byline so who knows who writes it. Come on - that's splitting hairs. It's implied that a corporate or CXO blog is written by employees who are 'in the know' in that company or by the CXO themselves - with or without the byline.

• CXO's don't have the time to blog. Well, Gee - if they don't have the time to share their thoughts and ideas with their customers/audience - then what does that say about their customer commitment? And why are YOU helping them hide that fact?

• I need the money. Why do you have to sacrifice your integrity to make money? Earn the money by teaching them to blog, helping them to be independent. Did you do someone else's homework to make money as a kid? Then don't do it now. If you did do homework for hire - shame on you!

I understand that sometimes companies need help learning to create a social media presence. No argument there. So help them learn - teach them to fend for themselves. Don't do it for them.

• Co-author a few posts, but make sure it's with their input and guidance for topics etc. Help them put their words and thoughts on paper - not yours!

• Help them learn how to post for themselves. Have them write drafts and critique them. That's what teachers do!

• Work with them to create an editorial calendar for their blog, just to get them started. Base it on their thoughts and perspectives about the blog topic. Then help them create the content. Just don't do it for them.

• Help them identify a blogging team that alternates posts so there's no big load on any one person.

• If you do have to ghost for a client to get them started - be honest and let the audience know you're doing it. You can be subtle and truthful by adding a byline. Sponsored by Company X. Words by author Y. Co-written with author Z. Find a way to tell the truth.

Just don't sell out your integrity for that fee.

More importantly - don't sell out your audience by misrepresenting the facts.

Audiences view social media as the safe ground for truth and integrity. It's the place where they can share and obtain real information in honest and meaningful ways. The place they can learn about prospective or current partners, get a feel for their thoughts and perspectives.

They trust us to deliver just that.

Are you?

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Article Tags: arenas, blah, blog, byline, fraud, ghost, integrity and honesty, money, omg, one at a time, ot, personal agenda, plagiarism, relationships, speechwriter, thesis, ul, virtual assistant



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Re: The Celebrity Apprentice Finale - Well, the results are in and Piers is The Celebrity Apprentice. I know Piers raised more money than Trace and I know this was a race for raising money for charity, but I'm still disappointed with the ethics that Piers used in order to win. I like how Trump's son asked Piers something along the line if Piers would have won if Trace would have had as impressive of a roladex. I also like how Trump's daughter asked if he would have raised as much money if he had actually been nice. Personally, I would enjoy working with Trace and be able to trust him on my team. I'm not sure I would trust Piers and this means I would not prefer to partner with him. Integrity is incredibly important to me. I think a values based model in business is where we need to head as a society. If this doesn't happen, the results will be less than savory. I'm not sure I like the message this show has portrayed.
Re: The Celebrity Apprentice Finale - [quote="Tami Szabo":2fmwsw7a]Well, the results are in and Piers is The Celebrity Apprentice. I know Piers raised more money than Trace and I know this was a race for raising money for charity, but I'm still disappointed with the ethics that Piers used in order to win. I like how Trump's son asked Piers something along the line if Piers would have won if Trace would have had as impressive of a roladex. I also like how Trump's daughter asked if he would have raised as much money if he had actually been nice. Personally, I would enjoy working with Trace and be able to trust him on my team. I'm not sure I would trust Piers and this means I would not prefer to partner with him. Integrity is incredibly important to me. I think a values based model in business is where we need to head as a society. If this doesn't happen, the results will be less than savory. I'm not sure I like the message this show has portrayed.[/quote:2fmwsw7a] I agree with you completely and especially about integrity and bring trustworthy. I would definitely rather work with or for Trace. Piers was a jerk and a pompous pain during the entire show. His win at all costs and crush anyone is a rotten business attitude to show. It gets ratings, but the show is supposed to be about business. Again, this mentality is why I hate reality shows. Encouraging people to worse and rewarding obnoxious and questionable behavior is a sad way to fill many hours of television programming. Imagine all the reality shows we could eliminate if a real value based system was in place. Ivanka made a good point, he didn't have to be that big a jerk to win - but he did appear to relish that behavior. Shri
Profile: Julia Cameron: journalist, screenwriter, poet, nove - Julia Cameron will be one of our featured speakers at the Ladies Who Launch NYC Speaker Series taking place on April 28. Click for more info. Julia Cameron is an accomplished journalist, screenwriter, poet, novelist, and playwright. But mention her name in conversation and inevitably it will be linked with The Artist's Way, a workbook for those looking to discover or re-discover their creative selves, which was initially published in 1992 and has sold over 3 million copies. Cameron grew up in Chicago and began her career writing for the Washington Post and Rolling Stone (where she met director Martin Scorsese, whom she married in 1975 and later divorced). While married to Scorsese, she worked on the screenplays for two of his major films: Taxi Driver and New York, New York. Cameron's first musical, Avalon, was staged in 1998. At 60, Cameron continues to follow the advice she espouses in The Artist's Way: jotting down her thoughts daily in her "morning pages" and channeling her artistic vision into a variety of projects. Below, read how Cameron fends off writer's block (yes, even she suffers from it sometimes), calls on friends for guidance, and dispels the myth that writers need to be miserable to be good. what we learned from julia: "If you're good at doing one thing, you should keep doing it. In England, writers are novelists, playwrights—the word 'writer' covers a wider spectrum of activity." She also said to take a bet on yourself; she did, and it's paid off. her true calling "I was born to write. All my brothers and sisters—there are seven of us altogether—are in the arts. My father was in advertising and mom had a master's degree in English and wrote poetry. By the time I was in sixth grade with Mrs. Klopsch, I was already writing short stories and poems." investigating journalism "My goal was to write short stories. When I was offered a job at the Washington Post, it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I enjoy writing in any form. I was proud of my Rolling Stone pieces. I wrote one about E. Howard Hunt's children. I remember getting in trouble with William F. Buckley. He called my house in Chicago because he thought it was a terrible thing I'd interviewed the children—he was their godfather. My first taste of celebrity was getting a good scolding. During my 20s I was a blind beginner. In my 30s I was a lot more conscious about what I wrote." screenwriting savvy "My early screenwriting was for my husband at the time, Martin Scorsese. I worked on Taxi Driver and on New York, New York. When Marty and I got divorced, I had a screenwriting career to pursue. I sold movies to Paramount. They bought the movie but didn't make it. I was frustrated, so I took the money I earned writing for Miami Vice and made a feature film in Chicago." sobering experience "1978 is the year that I got sober. My wild ways came screeching to a halt. I needed to find a way to write sober. I had always associated writing with drinking. We have a mythology around creativity that's destructive. We think you have to be broke, alone, neurotic, addicted. None of these things is true. When I got sober, I had to find a way to work soberly. I was 29, and I had a daughter who was a year old." do it for love, not money "I've never had to be paid to write. I published two novels. I have a musical opening in Chicago in the fall. Last year I had a play in L.A. The trick is to not need a guarantee and to be willing to write no matter what. Right now I'm writing a sequel to [my novel] Mozart's Ghost, which came out on Valentine's Day. I did the novel without a contract. I bet on myself." the power of friendship "It helps if you have friends who believe in you. My friends read my first drafts. A lot of times they will believe in a project when I'm getting rejected. We underestimate the importance of having one strong friend. The telephone is a wonderful ally to combat the isolation of being a writer, as is e-mail. If you know what your friends are doing, it's harder to feel lonely. I also think writing is its own companion. You're not lonely when you're actually writing." a typical day, the artist's way "I get up late. If I can, it's noon. I write my morning pages first thing. I ask for guidance and sit quietly and see if there's anything I need to be doing. I usually work on the music [for my upcoming musical]. I have a collaborator, Emma Lively, and we've written three musicals together. We work for a few hours. Then I put in a couple hours of prose writing. I sometimes don't get out of the house until 5:30. I try to get a walk in every day." overcoming writer's block "I use the same unblocking tools that I teach my students. They make you much more alert to the signals. I grapple with writer's block right away. Morning pages [three pages of writing about anything that comes to your head] are one such tool. I've been writing them for 25 years. In The Artist's Way, I also write about "blasting through blocks." By listing any angers, fears, and resentments related to a project, that often clears the decks right away. Emma and I have been hired to write music for a one-woman show. I feel blocked around it. I take a look at my ego—I'm not used to working FOR people anymore. I need to be a beginner again. Hopefully once I surrender my need to be the boss, it'll work out." favorite books "Tim Farrington is my favorite writer. He's written two books—The Monk Downstairs and The Monk Upstairs. He's so funny and deft, and he was the inspiration for me to write Mozart's Ghost. 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It's awful." on networking "I think it's most important that we do the work and then have something to network about. Sometimes people want networking to be a shortcut or a guarantee. Networking gives you a sense of the possible. I have a number of women friends in their 70s and 80s and they are a tremendous source of inspiration. One runs a horse ranch. One got a master's in poetry at 75. One is in her 80s and is still an active actress. I believe that other women are inspirational." parting thoughts... -"I am happiest when ... I'm writing." -"Success to me means ... creativity." -"The public figure I wish most would read The Artist's Way is ... Warren Beatty. I don't know if he has." -"I will always think of myself as ... a good horseback rider." -"My business would not have happened if ... I waited for guarantees." -"The most important thing I do every day is ... stay sober. I have 30 years without a drink." This Featured Lady was profiled by Michele Shapiro, a writer living in New York City.


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