I think the avatar discussion is quite simple – Just like Olivier said – It’s easy to use the comp. logo on the twitter account for questions or info about the biz – but I think it is IMPERATIVE that there is a personal touch somewhere! (like a separate account) But I think the best solution is an avatar with a face and a small logo on the avatar like @TheBrandBuilder and @ScottMonty

Mainly because when I go to an event or conference I want to be able to look for people that look familiar from Twitter avatars. I’m less likely to approach a person in a Best Buy T-Shirt bc they are most likely NOT the person I’ve been tweeting with…

GREAT post Keith and GREAT comments!!
CharissaCowart´s last blog ..Michael Kors Fall Fashion Show – Sneak Peek

In the case of Oddpodz twitter account, our back ground page shows the real people (Keith and Moi), the tweets come from people who also have personal accounts with their mugs on em. As long as you are not abusing twitter and force feeding your readers with meaningless selling content, your brand logo deserves and should have a visible presence on your tweets.

Karen
The Brandingdiva®

http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/how-to-manage-an-enterprise-twitter-presence-avatars-account-structure-and-response-methodology/
olivier blanchard´s last blog ..How To manage an enterprise Twitter presence: Avatars, account structure and response methodology

I believe the answer depends on the brand and how personalized the interaction is between the person behind it – whether they’re on the logo or not isn’t the main factor. I lead the Social Media efforts for the regional HQ of a very recognizable national brand. Our followers first came to us mostly by searching for us on Twitter or by finding us through Re-Tweets (we didn’t advertise our Twitter presence at all) before we were told to make our account private by our national office – long story, and not happy about it. (I’ll give details if anyone’s interested but it’s a bit off topic for here)

Now that we are private, we get most of our followers via links off our email campaigns and Website. But I think this also emphasizes they are following because they know the brand and believe in it and what we have to say. They don’t need to put a face to the name/account, but it probably wouldn’t hurt either. I like the idea @CoTweet has of indicating who from the brand is sending the Tweet and allowing the follower to see more info about them on their Twitter page. (As of now it’s just me, so that’s not really needed yet)

Now the trick is to keep them engaged so they’d want to stay

“I think it all boils down to what goes on behind the picture… A logo that behaves like a caring human being is far more valuable than a human being that might as well be an inanimate piece of corporate branding.”

Everyone getting on Twitter to do business or market something needs to read that!
Kris Colvin´s last blog ..How Mobile Brands Can Build a Successful App Strategy

I think Scott has done a great thing with Ford; but this may be less effective with less well known logos. Ford is a very distinct brand (and Scott’s relationship with the company is quite widely known).

Zappos does a wonderful job at using their Twitter account with multiple users. They have broken the stigma of a logo “not being personable”, by consistently demonstrating that Zappos people are happy helpful people. If they were to change avatars with each new person, I would definitely not notice their tweets as often – the zappos logo now means “helpful human being” in my mind.

As I think about the brands I follow on twitter – there are a few that use logos that evoke a similar sentiment as Zappos. @BaskinRobbin and @starbucks are both logos, but they are both very obviously humans behind the scenes.

I think it all boils down to what goes on behind the picture… A logo that behaves like a caring human being is far more valuable than a human being that might as well be an inanimate piece of corporate branding.