This twitterer may call themselves ExxonMobilCorp only according to the good folks at Exxon Mobil, they have no idea who Janet is. Still, as of this morning, ExxonMobilCorp is alive and well and sharing on Twitter.

Shel Holtz, of a shel of my former self says,

It took only three days from the first time a tweet appeared from a Twitter account called ExxonMobilCorp to capture the attention of mainstream media and investment analysts. […]
The ExxonMobilCorp account, though, should have raised some red flags immediately. The graphic image in succession the account shows service stations, every odd choice from that time ExxonMobil has announced its intention to sell its service stations and get out of that duty altogether. The person behind ExxonMobilCorp—who identified herself only as “Janet”—began answering questions that came from followers. Some were answers no self-respecting communicator would have given. For example, when someone raised the Exxon Valdez issue, Janet noted that, while tragic, the Valdez spill didn’t rank among the top 10 such incidents. Clearly, Janet has had not at all communication training, since that response would provoke anger and hostility.

The ExxonMobilCorp Twitter representation is apparently just the first of many. From Cow Times,

Major companies are at expose to danger of being ‘brand-jacked’ online, with almost seven in ten of the FTSE100 leaving their company or stigma ID on the micro blogging platform Twitter unclaimed.[…]Names with a view to sale
Meanwhile, a list of Twitter kind names wish been registered and are for sale on a website for £20 ($40), meaning they can be easily picked up by someone wanting to either be under the necessity a cachinnation at the brand’s expense or to be mischievous. These include Dominos Pizza, Dulux Paint, Eastenders, Alton Towers, Littlewoods and Ford Motor.

“Whether your brand decides to be there or not, the improvement of social media means people will be talking about it”, says Cow director Dirk Singer.   “Worse, as Exxon’s example shows, by staying at a distance from services such as Twitter, you leave yourself open to people ‘reserving’ your brand name in front of you can, or even deciding to impersonate you online.

Where does that leave legitimate Corporate Twitters? Grateful that they came to the game early. Concerned that aggregate their moral works work may now be suspect.  As imposter brands open up during the term of business attached Twitter, people will be asking, "Is It Real Or Is It Memorex?"