Is Your Boss on Twitter?

I recently presented at IABC World Conference in SanFran; my topic - Why CEOs Are Scared Of Social Media - this video clip suggests the attitudes of engagement, rather than techno-savvy, might be too abrasive for them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LzR6pCdtoA

I don't agree with this article and here is why:
* Consumers are even more skeptical today about large corporations and the ONLY person who can begin to change that perception is the CEO.
* A CEOs role is to be the face of the company and to communicate with ALL stakeholders, even the unhappy ones.
* A company has unhappy employees, angry shareholders, and sacked employees. Why not listen to what they have to say and do something about it instead of sticking your head in the sand?
* Hiding behind legal counsel is bull. There are plenty of CEOs who are using the social networks and using them very well (Zappos, for one).
* A CEO doesn't have to engage with every, single person that is happy or unhappy with the company. That's what the communication department is for.
* A company's brand is going to be even more focused in the coming years on how well the CEO is present. That means on the social networks, too.

While I'm not a Fortune 100 CEO (yet), I maintain an online presence. I have people that try to discredit me. I have people that call me names. I have people that don't know me, yet say really nasty things about me. But the flip side is that anytime someone tries to discredit me or the brand I'm building, I have groups of people that want to hunt down that person.

It's time to get on the bandwagon

Gini Dietrich
Chief Executive Officer
http://armentdietrich.com
http://twitter.com/ginidietrich

I believe it also is not a good idea. The time factor and Potential of people discrediting the business do to some personal gripe.

I totally agree. It would be very difficult for CEOs to maintain their personal internet presence. However, too many companies do an incomplete or poor job managing their corporate internet presence, including social media such as Facebook and Twitter. This has become one of our big focus points. Mor at http://domusinc.blogspot.com/2009/06/internet-presence-management-and-social.html.