"Only 18 per cent of top CEOs are on social networks" is the quote that has the social channels a-buzz today. This is not a new number however, unfortunately there has been little progress since the last time I saw the statistics on the C-level's engagement in social media. Back in 2010, Amber McArthur wrote an article about CEOs who were active online and determined that less than 8 per cent of CEOs were in fact active in social media. The 8 per cent were:
Martha Stewart @marthastewart
Tony Hsieh, Zappos @Zappos
Richard Branson, Virgin Group @RichardBranson
Leo Laporte, TWiT @LeoLaporte
Peter Aceto, ING Direct Canada @CEO_INGDIRECT.
Michael Arrington, TechCrunch @Arrington.
Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media @TimOreilly
Christine Perkett, PerkettPR @missusP
Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson @MichaelHyatt.
Brian J Dunn, Best Buy @BBYCEO
In 2012, IBM conducted a study with over 1,700 CEOs that indicated that this number increased to 16 per cent of CEOs active in the social environment. What is interesting about today's statistics is that a significant number of CEOs have indeed ventured out to social platforms to only quickly remove themselves, stating that maintaining a profile can be time-consuming and the risks of doing so outweighs the rewards. Therein lies the problem. A social business is a mindset, a culture, a way of operating. The social platforms (accounts) are social tools. Dabbling in the social environment does not cut it. Furthermore, just putting a junior staff, social coordinator or intern on these public social platforms is also not the answer to implementing this social environment.
The social task for CEOs and C-level leaders is not about maintaining a social profile. It is about modelling social leadership. Is your business socially-ready? As a C-level leader, are you modelling the model of being social?
Today we live in a customer-driven marketplace. Customers have a voice and expect interaction and involvement with your brand. They expect your organization to be socially friendly. So many business leaders believe they have implemented a social business environment in their organization because they got an employee to open up a social account somewhere. Today, although there are a number of businesses in the social space, there is a marked absence of leadership.
Social community management and interacting with the public in the social space is a very important role. This role becomes the face, voice and brand of the organization. Corporate leadership in social media should not be absent here. It is at this "interface" that the relationship is being built. I often wonder about community management job postings targeting the most junior person to conduct this role. It is a small indicator of the level of value an organization puts on the interaction with the public in this space.
So what does this have to do with C-level leadership? I am not proposing that C-level leaders have to be community managers. Not at all. However, what I am saying is that the C-level sets the tone in an organization and that they need to ensure that the relationships and interaction with prospects/public in the social space, are strategic and adds value. So the question is "Is this interaction one person's role or it is the role of many including the executive?" Just by answering that question, I can tell how an organization has positioned their organization in the social space. It is about developing a social environment. It's not a task on someone's job description. Tick.
Being social is not about a one-way communication in a "corner" of an organization. It is also not one person's role especially one of a junior staff member. Being social is a mindset. It is the mindset of the collective within an organization and the reason why it is called a social business capability. Consequently, like all new capabilities, it requires strong leadership. Any major change in an organization starts at the very top i.e. The CEO. This is why a social CEO is required to really drive a social business environment to succeed. It goes beyond the social profile.
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Your Birth Date And Place
While it might be nice to hear from Facebook well-wishers on your birthday, you should think twice before posting your full birthday. Beth Givens, executive director of the <a href="http://www.privacyrights.org/" target="_hplink">Privacy Rights Clearinghouse</a> <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110674/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook">advises</a> that revealing your exact birthday and your place of birth is like handing over your financial security to thieves. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon researchers recently <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/social-insecurity-numbers-open-to-hacking.ars" target="_hplink">discovered</a> that they could reconstruct social security numbers using an individual's birthday and place of birth.
Rather than remove your birthday entirely, you could enter a date that's just a few days off from your real birthday.
Your Mother's Maiden Name
"Your mother’s maiden name is an especially valuable bit of information, not least since it’s often the answer to security questions on many sites," writes the <em><a href="http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/what-not-to-tell-facebook-friends/?src=tptw" target="_hplink">New York Times</a></em>. Credit card companies, your wireless service provider, and numerous other firms frequently rely on this tidbit to protect your personal information.
Your Home Address
Publicizing your home address enables everyone and anyone with whom you've shared that information to see where you live, from exes to employers. Opening up in this way could have negative repercussions: for example, there have been instances in which <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/17/please-rob-me-site-tells_n_465966.html" target="_hplink">burglars have used Facebook to target users</a> who said they were not at home.
Your Long Trips Away From Home
Don't post status updates that mention when you will be away from home, <a href="http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/dont-tell-facebook-friends-that-youre-going-away/" target="_hplink">advises</a> <em>New York Times</em> columnist Ron Lieber. When you broadcast your vacation dates, you might be telling untrustworthy Facebook "friends" that your house is empty and unwatched. "[R]emind 'friends' that you have an alarm or a guard dog," Lieber writes.
Your Short Trips Away From Home
Although new features like Facebook Places encourage you to check in during outings and broadcast your location (be it at a restaurant, park, or store), you might think twice even before sharing information about shorter departures from your home. "Don’t post messages such as 'out for a run' or 'at the mall shopping for my sweetie,'" Identity Theft 911 <a href="http://identitytheft911.com/company/press/release.ext?sp=11132" target="_hplink">cautions</a>. "Thieves could use that information to physically break in your house."
Your Inappropriate Photos
By now, nearly everyone knows that racy, illicit, or otherwise incriminating photos posted on Facebook can cost you a job (or worse). But even deleted photos could come back to haunt you.
Ars Technica recently <a href="http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2010/10/facebook-may-be-making-strides.ars" target="_hplink">discovered</a> that Facebook's servers can store deleted photos for an unspecified amount of time. "It's possible," a Facebook spokesperson <a href="http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2010/10/facebook-may-be-making-strides.ars" target="_hplink">told</a> Ars Technica, "that someone who previously had access to a photo and saved the direct URL from our content delivery network partner could still access the photo."
Confessionals
Flubbing on your tax returns? Can't stand your boss? Pulled a 'dine and dash?' Don't tell Facebook. The site's privacy settings allow you to control with whom you share certain information--for example, you can create a Group that consists only of your closest friends--but, once posted, it can be hard to erase proof of your illicit or illegal activities, and difficult to keep it from spreading.
There are countless examples of workers getting the axe for oversharing on Facebook, as well as many instances in which <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/arrested-over-facebook-po_n_683160.html" target="_hplink">people have been arrested</a> for information they shared on the social networking site. (Click <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/fired-over-facebook-posts_n_659170.html" target="_hplink">here</a> to see a few examples of Facebook posts that got people canned.)
Your Phone Number
Watch where you post your phone number. Include it in your profile and, depending on your privacy settings, even your most distant Facebook "friends" (think exes, elementary school contacts, friends-of-friends) might be able to access it and give you a ring. Sharing it with Facebook Pages can also get you in trouble. Developer Tom Scott created an app called <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/evil-facebook-app-exposes_n_587144.html" target="_hplink">Evil</a> that displays phone numbers published anywhere on Facebook. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/evil-facebook-app-exposes_n_587144.html" target="_hplink">According to Scott</a>, "There are uncountable numbers of groups on Facebook called 'lost my phone!!!!! need ur numbers!!!!!' [...] Most of them are marked as 'public', and a lot of folks don't understand what that means in Facebook's context -- to Facebook, 'public' means everyone in the world, whether they're a Facebook member or not."
Your Vacation Countdown
<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110674/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook" target="_hplink">CBSMoneyWatch.com</a> warns social network users that counting down the days to a vacation can be as negligent as stating how many days the vacation will last. "There may be a better way to say 'Rob me, please' than posting something along the lines of: 'Count-down to Maui! Two days and Ritz Carlton, here we come!' on [a social networking site]. But it's hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don't invite criminals in by telling them specifically when you'll be gone," MoneyWatch <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110674/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook" target="_hplink">writes</a>.
Your Child's Name
Identity thieves also target children. "Don't use a child's name in photo tags or captions," <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/june/electronics-computers/social-insecurity/7-things-to-stop-doing-on-facebook/index.htm" target="_hplink">writes</a> Consumer Reports. "If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag. If your child isn't on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name."
Your 'Risky' Behavior
CBSMoneyWatch.com <a href="http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/devil-details/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook/2360/?tag=content;col1" target="_hplink">writes</a>:
<blockquote>You take your classic Camaro out for street racing, soar above the hills in a hang glider, or smoke like a chimney? Insurers are increasingly turning to the web to figure out whether their applicants and customers are putting their lives or property at risk, according to Insure.com.</blockquote>
There have been additional <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/facebook-twitter-users-co_n_471548.html" target="_hplink">reports</a> that insurance companies may adjust users' premiums based what they post to Facebook. Given that criminals are turning to high-tech tools like Google Street View and Facebook to target victims, "I wouldn't be surprised if, as social media grow in popularity and more location-based applications come to fore, insurance providers consider these in their pricing of an individual's risk," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/facebook-twitter-users-co_n_471548.html" target="_hplink">says</a> Darren Black, head of home insurance for Confused.com.
The Layout Of Your Home
<a href="http://identitytheft911.com/company/press/release.ext?sp=11132" target="_hplink">Identity Theft 911</a> reminds Facebook users never to post photos that reveal the layout of an apartment or home and the valuables therein.
Your Profile On Public Search
Do you want your Facebook profile--even bare-bones information like your gender, name, and profile picture--appearing in a Google search? If not, you should should block your profile from appearing in search engine results. Consumer Reports <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/june/electronics-computers/social-insecurity/7-things-to-stop-doing-on-facebook/index.htm" target="_blank">advises</a> that doing so will "help prevent strangers from accessing your page." To change this privacy setting, go to Privacy Settings under Account, then Sharing on Facebook.
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Thank you for this wonderful feedback and encouragement!
I sincerely appreciate it.
We indeed live in very interesting times. A time of major technological social change.
I am always intrigued by the response that you have received. Social media is an extraordinary communication and collaboration tool giving leaders eyes and ears like never before. I sometimes wonder what it was like when the telephone was first introduced. It would have been very similar from the viewpoint that it gave people a means to be responsive and communicate over long distances. As a result, giving businesses the means to increase their footprint. Looking back, I think many would be perplexed at the thought that leaders would have refused to use the phone and did not invest. This is why it is a little perplexing today. Social media is a multi-dimensional communication tool with extraordinary reach ~the next phase of our communication evolution. Communication is key in all businesses and all levels.
Cheers!
For those who do, it could be quite insightful.
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback.
Provide a single valid reason for the CEO of Kraft or Campbell's to be on a social network. You can create plenty of excuses but no valid justifiable reasons.
Just because you think CEO's should be isn't a valid reason. Customers can expect whatever they want, their relationship is not with the CEO, it's with their product or services a business provides.
Dear Amber can write whatever nonsense she chooses & she's written a great deal. I have responded to much of it on the G&M to her displeasure. Her position is 100% biased towards her business which is social media.
I would like to take this opportunity to share a few more stats, if I may:
By 2015, there will be nearly 3 billion Internet users; more than 40 percent of the world's projected population. Many of those Internet users will be socially active. In fact it is estimated that more than 25 percent of the world’s population (1.75Billion) will be active on social networks by the end of 2014. So, businesses can chose not to be social which would mean they have decided to not explore this social audience which is projected to be close to 2 billion in another year. With this route, businesses are also dismissing the concept of social search for their website.
Where organizations have decided to be social, I think it is important that their social strategy is integrated with their overall strategy of the organization and hence the involvement of the C-level leaders.
The social tools are exceptional communication and collaboration tools with extraordinary reach. It enables business leaders the ability to listen to their customers like never before.
With regards to relationships, I think customers can also have a relationship (or perceived relationship) with the brand and CEO. Apple is an excellent example where many customers are not only loyal to the brand; many are still very loyal to the late Steve Jobs.When the two exists, it can be a winning formula for that business.
You want or believe CEOs need to be somehow socially connected. That is simply not necessary, Steve Jobs never made himself socially accessible, neither does Facebooks CEO. They both used social platforms to advance their businesses but that is all they used them for.
Businesses all monitor social networks, Air Canada is a good example. The damaged wheelchair in New York went viral on Twitter & Air Canada responded. Not the CEO, but person who's job it is to respond.
The C-level interaction via social media is simply not a necessity. Businesses will decide on what level of social connection is necessary for their business. They will make that decision for themselves, not be led a field by others.
Of that 3 billion Internet users, 60% are from poverty stricken corrupt countries with barriers to trade & commerce. Will Bell Canada ever do business with citizens of China, there's 300,000,000 Internet users Bell doesn't need to socially connect with. So much for the stats when put into perspective.
It is good to see the uptake.