I’m not saying that the fake grassroots organization funded by the oil industry, Consumer Energy Alliance, is a robot. I’m just pointing out that, after David Brauer and I exchanged tweets about the organization, we both received three tweets that are – character for character – identical.

Consumer Energy Alliance on Twitter

If you’re looking to “engage” in a “conversation” with “people” using social media sites like Twitter, consider sending an actual human to do the work. And, if that work was done by an actual human, find a robot replacement.

I, on the other hand, actually hand-craft every tweet I send. Craft is probably too strong a word, but I can assure you that a robot is not generating stuff like this in response to @CEAOrg:

A Tweet to @CEAorg

Will a robot respond to that one? A human? Will Tony Hayward become the new Twitter face of @CEAorg? Time will tell.