“Volkswagen has set up a studio in Los Angeles to create quick, catchy video responses. Once a video is shot, it’ll be sent to Volkswagen’s lawyers for approval and within 20 minutes, posted on Twitter.” — Barbara Ortutay, reporting for the Associated Press from an interview with Jennifer Clayton, a media manager for Volkswagen

For me, social media is a personal medium.  Generally speaking, I like to follow people.  In the real social world, I have conversations with people.  When you follow a corporate handle like @VW — who are you listening to, exactly.  War room teams… lawyers?

Sure, corporate handles on social media can be done and perhaps done well, but geez… ya gotta admit that’s tough sledding.  The pressure’s even higher around an event like this weekend’s Super Bowl.

Now, following individual voices within a company like VW… and building up a suite of people you follow that bring different aspects of that company’s ethos to the surface… for me, that’s where it gets interesting.

And valuable.