I came across a press release today issued by Duke Energy, announcing it’s brand new twitter account.

This new account, according to the release is the sister account for @DukeEnergyStorm which provides breaking news and updates during storm events, as well as weather preparedness information and safety tips. I’m thinking that a sister account is much like a sister station. I have a TV news background so I get the whole sister connection. Hadn’t yet heard it used in the context of Twitter.

The press release also indicates that the new account is specifically for company-initiated news releases. Here is the line I found most amusing:

The account will also "retweet" others’ news about Duke Energy.

You don’t say?

We now have to announce that we are going to retweet?  Perhaps Duke Energy doesn’t want to deal with all of those emails inquiring why the new account is retweeting when they made it perfectly clear that they only planned to issue direct tweets.

Peter Shankman told me almost one-year ago today that the the press release would be dead in 36 months. That 36 is now down to 24, given that a year has already gone by.

With only two years left, you’d better start announcing your new twitter accounts, and be sure to let us know if you plan to retweet.