Hi John
This is a big question, and continues to be something discussed on an almost daily basis. Actually, the question is equally valid when it comes to blogging: raise the profile of the individuals within an organisation or raise the profile of the organisation as "single body"? Theoretically, we all know an organisation *is* the people it contains but from a traditional marketing perspective, this is deeply challenging stuff.
In my personal opinion, the former is a stronger and more authentic proposition. Although there are cases for "institutional twitter" (and it *can* be done with a human voice: see - as ever - http://twitter.com/brooklynmuseum), both Gail and Linda pick up on the inevitable issues that tend to arise with the corporate account; namely that it loses individuality and personal voice.
Having said that, I don't think there is any one size fits all response to this; it really depends on how happy the institution is with handing over some level of control to anyone who works there, and what kind of voice you are aiming to have. Even if you do decide to do this, how you _actually_ do it is a whole different kettle of fish.
If it helps, I have written a number of posts on just such a question - some still frame my feeling, some have changed a bit since then...
Multiple Twitter accounts: http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/2009/10/07/many-me/
Personal voice: http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/2009/02/06/the-person-is-the-point/
..and the one where I said I didn't much like Twitter (*cough*): http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/2008/01/25/all-noise-no-signal-lifestreaming-is-a-timesink/
In general I *think* I come back to this [don't quote me, I change each week :-)]: For the most part, the whole point of [twitter/blogs/etc] is *opinion*: IMO, a blog post / tweet without opinion is either 1) a news item or 2) a web page which happens to have a date and ability to comment on it. If you're wanting to use the media to provide a news stream, that's cool, but don't expect the level of engagement you might be looking for otherwise.
There you go, exactly the wishy-washy non-answer you were hoping for :-)
Cheers
Mike
Mike Ellis
Research and Innovation Group
Eduserv
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tel: 01225 470522
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Benfield
Sent: 07 December 2009 09:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Twitter [Scanned]
Question:
How do you enable a number of staff to collectively twitter for your
organisation? Do you allow them all to twitter from the main account (a
bit impersonal for me)? Or do they have individual accounts and you use
the Twitter groups aggregate them? The latter would mean you emphasise
Twitter group address in comms.
John Benfield
Head of Digital Media
The Royal Shakespeare Company
01789 272351
07825 397387 mob
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.
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