P. Allen Smith, the gardening author and television personality who hypes the Proven Winners brand of plants, is making the rounds of the season's garden and flower shows, including this week's show here in Philadelphia. So despite some of the snipy comments I've read on the Internet about P. Allen being a Tommy Bahama-like fictional character, I can vouch for the fact that he truly exists. However, the same cannot be said of his Twitter persona.
I had the chance to chat with P. Allen following one of his standing-room-only lectures here at the show. (By the way, what do his friends call him? P.? P. Allen? Allen? Your Highness?) As we chatted, I asked if he had abandoned his efforts to connect with other gardeners on Twitter since his last message was posted in January. His response?
"Oh, I Twitter?"
According to P. Allen, he has a "very small staff" of 15 underlings who are charged with such mundane matters as web design, answering questions and, well, apparently with being him. They are dabbling in social media and he expects that one of them is trying it out.
Now, for those of you who haven't yet jumped onto the social media bandwagon, let me back up for just a minute to explain what Twitter is. Twitter is a web-based platform that allows you to post short messages about what you're doing or have to say or in response to what other people are doing or have to say. Some call it microblogging because there is a 140 character limit to what you can post. You can follow people and they can follow you, which means what they post shows up in your Twitter account page.
In the world of Twitter and other social media, it is considered extremely bad etiquette to pretend to be someone you are not or to otherwise practice deception in a media that is built on mutual respect and trust. (Well, most of the time.) It wouldn't be bad form if the profile made it clear that the person posting wasn't P. Allen but was a staffer, much like the Dalai Lama's Twitter presence clearly isn't him, but rather one or several staff people sharing information about him and his activities.
But P. Allen Smith's Twitter profile clearly represents the person posting as him, saying "I enjoy designing gardens, vegetable gardens, and sharing tips about gardening, recipes and entertaining."
What's more, the short posts also misrepresent the writer as being P. Allen, as in the exchange between one follower asking if it was really him. The response?
"This is *really* me. Make sure to say hi to your mom for me."
Other messages include these:
"Want to see my very own Garden Home Retreat?"
"Just received the first copy of my new book..."
"Updating my facebook page. If you are a facebook member you can find it here..."
Now, I know it's possible to set up a fake Twitter account and pretend to be someone else in a malicious way. Twitter is very good about policing and deleting these accounts when they are discovered. But according to P. Allen, his staff is experimenting in social media. In addition, all of the posts are P. Allen Smith promotional posts. And he was not at all surprised to find that he was on Twitter.
I say, shame on you P. Allen Smith for allowing your staff to misrepresent themselves as you. It's a breach of trust and just plain deceitful--not to mention that it makes you look like a prima donna that you have to hire out to underlings to talk with the little people who buy your books, watch your shows and shell out money at garden centers for Proven Winner plants because you tell them to.
If Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O'Neal, Britney Spears and hundreds of others can Twitter to connect with the people who have supported them, why not you?
Too busy to Twitter? I understand that. But at the very least, you should advise your staff to stop pretending they are P. Allen Smith.
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You for reading! You can reach me at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com and can follow me on Twitter at @RobinRipley.
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Comments
Grrrr... Well-deserved rant about P. Allen Smith. Yes, I'm following him. But no more. This is just plain irritating. If he doesn't have time, I understand. Completely. But for heaven's sake, don't pretend. For shame.
The governor of California also has a Twitter account. Do you believe he is the person who keys in tweets and reads what people post? The "P. Allen Smith" franchise or public-persona was tweeting. Ease up.
Marta - There is a key difference in what Governor Schwarzenegger's twitter page is doing and in what P. Allen Smith's twitter page is doing. Schwarzenegger's does not pretend that he is actually doing the twittering. P. Allen Smith's does. One is honest. The other is not. There is no shame in not having the time or inclination to twitter. But there should be in condoning deceit.
Robin Wedewer
It's bad marketing skills on the part of the staffer, is all. In social media for marketing, Rule #1 is don't pretend you're someone/thing you're not, Rule #2 is put a face to the name. When I twitter at work, my avatar is my face with the company logo. The info says I am me and I am twittering for [company]. Don't totally blame it on P. Allen - but he should clue this staffer in, since said staffer is doing social media ALL wrong, apparently! :)
It's definitely unethical to knowingly allow someone else to pose in your stead for your benefit. Period. And I don't like smart-aleky gardening gurus either.
I don't follow Twitter, having more on my plate now than I can handle, but this just confirms what I've decided about P. Allen Insufferable in recent months. And someone please give the poor boy some money so he can buy other clothes than the ones he always wears in his books (which are sent to me and which I rarely review and always give away).
Robin
This post caught my eye - I do lots of ghost articles on web sites, but twitter???? The least they could do would be to say it was PASinc or something. If you are too busy to do it, then you are clearly too busy and shouldn't do it.
Robin - good seeing yu at GWA in Philly on Monday. And yes, you hit it on the head -- "fake" is out and if you can't do your own Twittering then just don't do it at all. There is no rule saying he has to be on it for heaven's sake.
Hi Robin,
Great article!
I'm not the biggest gardener in the world, but certainly know who P. Allan is. It's disappointing to know that in the effort to market, one would stoop to such lows. We're all busy...
As you know, I'm the National Strategies for Small Business Examiner. I'm planning a two part article about Social Media for Friday and Monday.
But your article got me thinking, and I'll be starting with a few comments in Thursday's column... of course letting folks know that you've spoken out!
The Best -
Rori
National Strategies for Small Business Examiner
Phoenix Travel Industry Examiner
Very well said! As you notice--maybe--I don't twitter anymore. I couldn't keep up with my stuff or everyone else. But I just left the scene and didn't hire a crew to twitter for me ;). At least he admitted it was his staff.
Thanks for the link love on your article about gardening blogs.
Anna/Flowergardengirl
Charlotte History Examiner
His friends call him Alan and his friends are forgiving that he doesn't type well. His friends would rather see that time spent in the garden then suffering through technology.
Twittering is stuppid@
I spend hundreds of hours online developing, working, friending, and LOVING social media. You owe it to your peeps to be honest and who you really are. Way to go Robin - you're the best!
Shawna
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