Chief Execs Hesitant to Interact via Twitter: Fear Social Media Exposure

By emeadows
September 28, 2012

While it’s become increasingly necessary for companies to have a social media presence, many CEOs shy away from personal accounts in fear of costly social gaffes.
“Chief executives are under pressure these days to appear accessible and ‘authentic,’ but social media — with its demands for quick, unscripted updates that can quickly go viral — poses risks for top managers and the companies they represent, in the form of lawsuits, leaked trade secrets or angered customers,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
But according to former Medtronic Inc. CEO Bill George, who is now a management professor at Harvard Business School, “people want CEOs who are real. They want to know what you think… Can you think of a more cost-effective way of getting to your customers and employees?”
According to a recent report from CEO.com and the analytics company Domo, seven in 10 Fortune 500 CEOs have no presence on social media at all.
“CEOs who do mind their own accounts have to steer clear of bashing competitors, disparaging customers or opining on polarizing topics like religion and politics,” notes the article.
“When she trains executives on social media, Amy Jo Martin, CEO and founder of social-media agency Digital Royalty Inc., says clients are ‘fearful of sharing too much versus not sharing enough.’ She advises executives to give followers a glimpse, not a guided tour, of their lives.”

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