New Report Finds that Social Media Habits of Fortune 500 CEOs are Sputtering; Only 40% Have a Social Media Presence
Engagement with Social Media Remains Flat, Despite Influx of New Group of Leaders Among Fortune 500
SILICON SLOPES, Utah – May 31, 2017 – Today, Domo and CEO.com released their fifth annual study on the social media habits of Fortune 500 CEOs. The 2016 Social CEO Report shows that while the social media habits of Fortune 500 CEOs have moderately improved over the past five years, they sputtered in 2016. The report also shows that despite 75 chief executive changes occurring in this group in 2016, these new Fortune 500 leaders had no significant impact on the group’s total social media report card.
This new report found that only 40 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs on the list were active on at least one of six major social networks in 2016 (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube), a slight increase from 2015. Of the Fortune 500 CEOs that use social media, 69 are active on more than one channel, and just 15 are active on more than two.
Only 40 Fortune 500 CEOs (8 percent) have a Facebook page, down from 57 in 2015. Of those, 32 were inactive for the last quarter of 2016. LinkedIn, which was acquired for $26.2 billion by Microsoft in 2016, remained the preferred social media “onramp” channel for Fortune 500 CEOs and LinkedIn’s Influencer program features some of the most active leaders on social media. In 2016, 35 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were using the platform, a three percent increase from 2015.
Just 36 Fortune 500 CEOs have Twitter accounts, but it remains one of the most actively used channels – with 70 percent of that group regularly using the platform in 2016, compared to 62 percent last year. Both Instagram and Google+ had modest gains in Fortune 500 CEOs with accounts since 2015, despite very little use of these channels.
New channels for video emerged in 2016. Facebook Live, LinkedIn Influencer videos and Twitter’s Periscope joined YouTube as social video platforms. Meanwhile Vine, also owned by Twitter, shuttered in 2016. These accounts are typically owned by corporate marketing and have featured their top brass, but Fortune 500 CEOs typically do not have their own accounts.
Other notable findings from the study include:
- Expedia’s Dara Khosrowshahi is the only Fortune 500 CEO to use five social networks.
- Apple’s Tim Cook has the most Twitter followers – surpassing that of Warren Buffett and Marc Benioff.
- More than 40 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are featured on their company’s YouTube channel.
- Executives from the technology, retail, media and entertainment sectors were most active on social channels in 2016.
To view the full 2016 Social CEO Report, visit: https://www.domo.com/learn/2016-social-ceo-report
About the Survey
To find out how many CEOs were actually using social media, and what kind of influence they had, we turned to the FORTUNE 500® list, searching for every CEO on each of the six major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and YouTube. Results for the report were collected over the course of 2016.
About CEO.com
CEO.com, sponsored by Domo, delivers the latest news and best practices in business management.
About Domo
Domo helps all employees – from the CEO to the front-line worker – optimize business performance by connecting them to the right data and people they need to improve business results. Domo’s Business Cloud is the world’s first customizable platform that enables decision makers to identify and act on strategic opportunities in real time. The company works with the world’s leading and most progressive brands across multiple industries including retail, media and entertainment, manufacturing, finance and more. For more information, visit www.domo.com. You can also follow Domo on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.
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