In reaction to Exxon Mobil’s confirmation that it is not on Twitter, and that an enthusiastic “company spokesperson” who calls herself Janet is not in fact an authorized representative of the company, I did a guest blog post on ZDNet this morning on the trustworthiness of corporate spokespeople on social networks.

I decided to look into Popeyes Chicken, a company that I feel is “doing it right” on Twitter. (God forbid my investigations would reveal that Popeyes isn’t “real” on Twitter either.) The post features a Q&A with Alicia Thompson, vice president, communications & PR for Popeyes. Alicia talks about Popeyes’ Twitter strategy and confirms my belief that good social media spokespeople need not come from the company’s C-level.

Finally, I close with a few ideas on how companies, consumers and social networks can verify and improve the credibility of corporate spokespeople using social media.

Tags: social media corporate identity crisis,, twitter,, popeyes chicken,, exxon mobil,, janet,, zdnet