Top CEOs Don’t Like Social Media

Two thirds of the top CEOs have less than 100 friends on Facebook, and surprisingly, over a quarter have only 1 or 0 connections on Linkedin.

With only one tweet to his credit, Warren Buffett is the least active CEO on Twitter, whereas not surprisingly, Google’s co-founder Larry Page is included in more than 2 million circles on Google+.

According to the McKinsey&Company research ‘The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies,’ 72 percent of companies use social technologies in some way, but very few are anywhere near to achieving the full potential benefit, and in fact the most powerful applications of social technologies in the global economy are still largely untapped.

The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) found that twice as much potential value lies in using social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing and collaboration within and across enterprises.

MGI’s estimates suggest that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of interaction workers—high-skill knowledge workers, including managers and professionals—by 20 to 25 percent.

One of the reasons CEOs may shy away from social media might be because they may be attempting to avoid“foot-in-mouth disease” where they might write an inappropriate statement about their company, or worse, about a competitor’s. CEO’s communications, whether they be corporate statements, speeches, email or social media, can become the basis for legal action. However, when used accordingly, social media can be a senior executive’s best ally.

Twitter
Profiles

• 19 CEOs from FORTUNE 500 companies (3.8%) have registered for Twitter
• 107 million Americans (34.3% of US population) have registered for Twitter2
• 17% of the Inc. 500 CEOs are also on Twitter3
• 4 CEOs (less than 1%) have Twitter-verified accounts
• 3 CEOs have joined Twitter in the last year (Rupert Murdoch, Rory Read & Best Buy Interim CEO Mike Mikan)

Usage 

• 5 of the 19 CEOs who signed up for Twitter have never tweeted
• 9 CEOs (1.8%) are active on their Twitter accounts

Facebook
Profiles

• 38 CEOs from FORTUNE 500 companies (7.6%) are on Facebook
• 157,348,340 Americans (50.5% of US population) are on Facebook4

Usage

• 25 CEOs (65.8% of CEOs on Facebook) have less than 100 friends
• 11 CEOs (28.9% of CEOs on Facebook) have between 100-500 friends
• 2 CEOs (5.3% of CEOs on Facebook) have more than 500 friends

(Numbers do not add up to 33 because profiles with a blocked number of friends were included)

LinkedIn
Profiles

• 129 CEOs from FORTUNE 500 companies (25.9%) have LinkedIn Profiles
• 62,790,000 Americans (20.2% of US population) have LinkedIn Profiles5

Usage 

• 32 CEOs (24.8% of CEOs on LinkedIn) are not updated with current company or title
• 76 CEOs (58.9% of CEOs on LinkedIn) have more than 10 connections
• 10 CEOs (7.8% of CEOs on LinkedIn) have more than 500 connections
• 53 CEOs (41.1% of CEOs on LinkedIn) have 10 connections or less
• 36 CEOs (27.9% of CEOs on LinkedIn) have 1 or 0 connections

Google+
Profiles

• 4 CEOs from FORTUNE 500 companies (.8% of CEOs) are on Google+
• Estimated 10% of US Population6

Pinterest
Profiles

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