Dear Audience, investment guru Warren Buffett played his Twitter debut exactly right. He had amassed 80,000 followers within a day of his first tweet, which read “Warren is in the house,” and shortly afterward the figure had risen to around half a million: not bad for an 82-year-old who’s not exactly a digital native. His example suggests that if you can make it to the top in real life, it is very quick and easy to make it to the top in social media.
But if this theory is true, why do some of the world’s leading managers have such an unimpressive online presence? Virgin’s Richard Branson admittedly has three million followers, but other business tycoons’ numbers are not nearly so inspiring. Computer pioneer Michael Dell has 66,000, and GE chief executive Jeff Immelt only around 10,000. You will not find many big names in European business at the top of the popularity rankings.
what money can.t buy | strategic management
Two megastars, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, are an object lesson in social media management, each with more than 30 million followers. But many top businessmen and women still steer clear of tweets and likes, and 70 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives don’t have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Maybe they are afraid of the power of the online masses.
You do not need to look very far for communication disasters either. “Board meeting. Good numbers = happy board,” tweeted the CFO of quoted American fashion chain Francesca’s recently. It was not a great idea, since the company’s quarterly figures weren’t published until a week later. He was promptly sacked, but took it in good humor, tweeting: “There must be an easier and cheaper way of getting followers.” …
