Tuesday, December 9, 2008

200 CEOs Share Their Opinion of Social Media

Thanks Mark Van Baale for the Re Tweet of this terrific article! It will be helpful for our class. From BlackWeb 2.0

There has been mixed reviews when companies, as opposed to employees, are transparent and join social networks. Some companies are hesitant because of how their brand may be portrayed online. When they open the door for consumer feedback through open dialogue, the responses and comments may not always be so positive. Years ago it was a must-have for a company to have a website as a place for consumers to shop or learn more about the company. As years progress and technology is used for different communication tactics, companies must also change and communicate in ways that are identifiable with their consumers, such as social networks.

Public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and PRWeek recently conducted a survey of 200 U.S. CEOs and the results include data on how these individuals view social media/social networks, how often they use the tools, and how they view the tools as profitable from a company perspective. More than half of the CEOs believe that word of mouth, trade media and blogs have increased their influence on a company’s business in comparison to less than half believing that traditional media outlets, such as CNN and the National evening news, have the same influence. 43% of the CEOs use social media as a personal account at least a few times a week. More surprisingly 25% say that they never use social media! MORE HERE

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