Presidential Candidate Fakesters?

Fred Stutzman has a interesting post on Tech President about Democratic Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards using Twitter. (I learned about his post via Twitter actually.)

Now, I’ll gladly apologize if I’m wrong on this, but it appears that Mr. Obama didn’t write his first Twitter. There’s just something patently un-senatorial about all of those exclamation points.

I was wondering the same thing when I sent a direct Twitter message to John Edwards and received a direct response.

BrianR: Are you carrying the phone that gets our twitter updates? 12:55 PM March 10, 2007
JRE: Hi Brian. Yes. Will begin giving updates from the phone this week. 12:37 AM March 13, 2007

Basically I wanted to know if that was really John Edwards on the other end. Interestingly one of John Edwards next Twits contained this before the message: (from staff). I’m not sure if I had anything to do with this disclaimer appearing… but I hope a smart staffer was paying attention.

Fred is right on when he wrote:

However, with social media, there’s something a good bit more personal about the nature of the interaction. A Twitter is not a blog post or a press release or a campaign email, it is a one-to-one interaction between Twitterers. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but it feels personal – and because it feels personal, I want to know who the Twitter is actually coming from. Does Edwards or Obama actually need to type the Twitter? No, sure, they can dictate it, but when I get a Twitter from John Edwards or Barack Obama, I want that Twitter to be from them, not an over-caffeinated message person.

I love reading the fakester Darth Vader’s twits but I don’t want my future President to pretend. Keep it Real® and don’t become a Presidential candidate Fakester!