In some ways, this problem is no different than people setting up websites and posting stuff. Google manages that by assigning an authority score to websites.
While the inputs will be different, the way to manage for this is to create a pagerank for Twitter accounts. Google can then display the tweets only for those who have a minimum reputation. You wouldn't wants the shown tweets to be dominated by the same ol' social media A-Listers. So the reputation threshold should be somewhat low. But it should be high enough to keep the spammers out.
As for people saying something bad about your brand...well, that's a reality that all companies will have to deal with.
Hutch
Marketing and public relations people take heed: the game has changed.
Until today I admittedly hadn’t thought too much about Google’s real-time search and its impact on brands using Twitter. That all changed when Stuart Robertson of DesignMeme sent me a link to a blog post in which the author calls out potential examples of Google allegedly being used as a spam engine. Spam aside, the mixture of Twitter and Google’s real-time search is a scary and uncertain reality for brands or, quite frankly, anyone who diligently watches his or her online reputation.
For example, take a look at this screen shot that Robertson sent me of my very own tweets popping up in Google real-time search:
Since I’m widely known as “mediaphyter” a Google search on my long-time nickname is now that much more revealing than it would’ve been only a week ago. Though I am pretty careful not to tweet anything that I wouldn’t want seen by a much wider audience, not everyone is that careful. Suddenly, the ability to choose whether or not one wants to integrate his or her business and professional lives is gone.
This is already starting to scare some business-focused users, including Robertson, away from engaging as publicly as they once did.
“I’m finding I’m using the direct messages much more today for things I would have @replied to yesterday,” he said.
