GG’s Oriana Leckert Featured on TechHive

“Whenever someone sounds drastically more coherent in a tweet then they do in person, they probably had some help.” 

—Oriana Leckert 

A recent article on TechHive, a site that focuses on gadgets, trends, and other tech news, features GG Director of Operations, Oriana Leckert, on growing ghostwriting trends in the social media celebrity-sphere.

In “Who’s actually writing your favorite celebrity’s tweets?” Evan Dashevsky illuminates “ghost posting” on social media among high-profile personalities. From celebrities to politicians, ghostwriting has become a common phenomenon in the maintenance of public profiles on social media. “Having worked in this industry for a few years, I just assume that everyone has a ghostwriter,” Oriana says.

So whose writing are we actually reading? We will never know. Dashevsky interviews a celeb ghostwriter for the inside scoop: from negotiating per-tweet rates to client (non)interaction to the legalities of staying anonymous. 

“Ghostwriting [for social media] is definitely gaining ground; the stigma around the whole thing is being lifted,” Oriana says. Fans are going to have to become comfortable with the idea that social media profiles are prepared for, not by, their favorite celebs.

Around the Word: Outing the Ghosts

Pictures supplied by Eva Rinaldi and NASA

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who has become something of a celebrity du jour thanks to his videos and tweets about life on the International Space Station, may have had a ghostwriter compose some of his tweets, according to The Albatross. 

Blacklock’s Reporter Tom Korski claims that documents from the Canadian Space Agency showed that Hadfield’s “seemingly spontaneous performances in space were the product of a three-year marketing campaign.” Hadfield’s son, Evan Hadfield, adamantly denies it.

Are we missing something? What’s the big deal? It looks to us as though Blacklock’s Reporter seriously exaggerated what help Hadfield had. Having an occasional tweet drafted by your son, or even the CBC, doesn’t equal a “three-year marketing campaign.” And even if Hadfield did have a ghostwriter, that’s not exactly the makings of a scandal, is it?

Maybe it is. In fact, Chris Hadfield wasn’t the only one “accused” of using a ghostwriter recently. Ransom, a rapper who collaborated with Nicki Minaj, recently released a song in which he claims to have written verses for her before she became famous. Nicki denies ever having used a ghostwriter in a (somewhat profane) response on TMZ.

What do you think about these stories? Is "ghostwriter outing" the new rage? Why all the hubbub?