A Call for Executive Engagement: 7 CEO’s Driving Conversation in Social Media
Fortune 100 CEO’s have not embraced social media. Let me rephrase that. They’re not even participating in social media. According to a report from UberCEO, only two of the top 100 have Twitter profiles and all 100 are ghosts in the blogosphere.
In addition, a Forbes Insights study (sponsored by Google) titled “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite” revealed that only 1 percent of those over the age of 50 provide daily contributions to a work-related blog. So what does this mean? If you’re old and powerful, you’ll likely not be active in social media? No. It just demonstrates the gap between those who entered the work force with a reliance on fax machines, phones and letters vs. those who live in an environment where Facebook, blog posts and tweets dominate the communications.
So what’s a newbie social media user who happens to run one of the world’s largest companies supposed to do? For starters, let’s take a closer look at seven CEO’s who are doing it right - regardless of fame or Fortune status. Follow them. Better yet, ask them a question. They know what social media is about so don’t be surprised when they respond to you.
1) Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh: @zappos
2) Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson: @richardbranson
3) Digg CEO Jay Adelson: @jayadelson
4) Technorati Founder David Sifry: @dsifry
5) Federated Media CEO John Battelle: @johnbattelle
6) Mozilla CEO John Olilly: @johnolilly
7) DoSomething CEO Nancy Lublin: @dosomething
BusinessWeek also did a feature on close to 50 CEO’s on Twitter. Check out http://www.exectweets.com for more business leaders sharing their voices on Twitter. To all the other CEO’s not yet participating in social media, I think Nancy Lublin’s organization says it best.
test Filed under Posts | Tags: Adelson, Battelle, Branson, Digg, DoSomething, Federated Media, Hsieh, Labin, Mozilla, Olilly, Sifry, social media, Technorati, Virgin Group, Zappos |3 Responses to “A Call for Executive Engagement: 7 CEO’s Driving Conversation in Social Media”
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[...] article with the 7 CEO’s at The Social 7, blog authored by the Digital Lifestyle team at Zeno Group. Follow The Social 7 on Twitter: [...]
Great post, Nick. My one question, though - all of the above-mentioned CEOs originated in the online media space, running, for the most part, online companies. Perhaps they get it because they are every day immersed in it; in fact, the success of their businesses depend on it. We all know by now that CEOs who use social media can see a change in ROI, but do you think the CEO of, say, Nordstrom would be as sold on the concept as the CEO of an online retailer, like Zappos?
Thanks for the list. We are not a Fortune 100, just a start-up in San Diego, BUT I too have been promoting social networking and social media for c-level execs since January and our clients are experiencing great results form our 1 year program. just hough i would share- thanks
Justin
CEO Social Networking San Diego
http://www.twitter.com/justinrfrench