When will CEOs make proper use of social media?
While Elon Musk is a shining example of what not to do on social media, at least he’s tweeting something – and that’s more than can be said for the majority of CEOs, writes Tony Jaques.
The world gasped when unwise tweets from Elon Musk cost his company and shareholders billions of dollars. Yet CEO failure to engage online is also a risk to reputation and diminishes capacity to manage issues and crises.
It’s very easy to focus on occasions when social media goes feral – like when Musk posted a tweet suggesting that one of the Thailand cave rescuers was a pedophile, and Tesla shares fell by over $2 billion. Or how he falsely tweeted that he had financing to take the company private. When the SEC filed a lawsuit, Tesla shares lost more than $7 billion in value, and Musk and the company each agreed to pay $20 million to resolve the case.
Sorry, don’t buy it. Who did Hootsuite survey for starters? And as Musk proved, it can be a BAD thing.
I reckon the most influential CEO / MD in Tech in Oz was probably Daniel Petrie at Microsoft. Everyone knew him as he was out and about, approachable and made time to spruik the company face-to-face. Journos has his direct phone line. No sign of Twitter there.
Social Media is not the be all and end all as some seem to think it is.