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Now in his mid-70s, actor George Takei has found new fame as a beloved social media maven boasting millions of followers across his various social networking accounts. Thats some heavy digital mojo for an actor best known for a supporting role on a short-lived 1960s TV seriesand occasional guest appearances on The Howard Stern Show. Theres a very good reason for his newfound digital popularity, though: Takeis meme-orific posts are absolutely delightful!

But many of Takeis virtual admirers might be disappointed to know that Mr. Sulu is not solely responsible for all that delightfulness. A few months back, the world learned that some of the humorous quips posted under his name were actually written by a ghostwriter being paidten bucks per Facebook post.

As it turns out, Takeis use of outside help for his social media work isnt unique among celebrities. If youve ever wondered how Sarah Palin managed to translate her complicated relationship with the English language into coherent long-form Facebook posts, or how the mayor of Americas largest city finds time to post several times a day, the answer probably points to a professional social media ghostwriter.In fact, public figures ranging from Britney Spears to Kanye West to Barack Obama have admitted to using paid professional help to maintain their social media profiles.

At this point of having worked in this industry for a few years, I just assume that everyone has a ghostwriter, said Oriana Leckert, the director of operations atGotham Ghostwriters, a NYC-based firm that pairs professional ghostwriters with clients ranging from corporate to professional to celebrity. Whenever someone sounds drastically more coherent in a tweet then they do in person, they probably had some help.

Gotham matches writers for long-term arrangements where the writer is contractually obligated to produce a specific number of blogs, posts, or tweets per day. Her firm chooses from a vast stable of writers to find ones who understand the culture and voice of the particular client. For example, a writer with a hip-hop background probably wouldnt be retained to tweet for a pharmaceutical exec (although that might have a fresh sound).

Ghostposting deals are nearly always involve writing for multiple social platforms. When a celebrity or the celebs people hire a ghostposter, they are looking for someone to mimic and project their clients voice across the digital spectrum. This was the agreement Anna (whose name weve changed to protect her identity), a Brooklyn-based writer who spent 18 months ghostwriting for a pretty ubiquitous B-list star, found herself in.

I wrote all the personal blog posts, tweets, and Facebook updates in her voice,Anna explained via email.Occasionally I even handled written interviews as well.

I was given a monthly edit calendar of topics that was created by the celebritys team based on the needs of various sites she was partnering with, she writes. When not promoting one of the celebritys projects, I covered pretty standard ladymag topicsfashion, beauty, and relationships.

Anna says she shared tweeting responsibilities with a publicity team and the celebrity herself. Anna was not allowed to publish a post or tweet herselfshe emailed all content to the celebs team, which then approved and posted various items.

The amount of interaction between celebrity and ghostposter varies. Anna for her part says she received very little guidance: Sometimes I would find useful information by Googling old interviews, but for the most part it was total guesswork.

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