How CEOs use Twitter: A comparative analysis of Global and Latin American companies

Abstract Social networks are becoming a key communication tool for organizations, but also for top managers like CEOs. Among the different available platforms, Twitter is one of the greatest and it is considered one of the most suitable to share information and engage in dialogue with stakeholders. In this way, this paper analyzes the presence of CEOs on the most active social network sites, and assess the activity and interaction of these top managers on Twitter. CEOs from Global and Latin American companies were selected, to compare their performance. The results of the study show that the presence of CEOs in social networks is very low, and the majority of those that are present on them are not adequately using their Twitter accounts. Although the general presence and performance on are low, LatAm CEOs have a better presence on social networks and they are more active on Twitter, but Global CEOs have better interaction results on their accounts. So, this area of strategic communication should be improved by communication practitioners, since the CEO communication is nowadays a key communication issue for any organization.

[1]  Betsy Anderson,et al.  Anti-social media: executive Twitter “engagement” and attitudes about media credibility , 2015 .

[2]  Bruno S. Silvestre,et al.  Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media , 2011 .

[3]  Trent Seltzer,et al.  Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500 companies engage stakeholders usin , 2010 .

[4]  Roselyn J. Lee-Won,et al.  When retweets persuade: The persuasive effects of dialogic retweeting and the role of social presence in organizations' Twitter-based communication , 2017, Telematics Informatics.

[5]  J. Kim,et al.  Examining the interplay of an organization's prior reputation, CEO's visibility, and immediate response to a crisis , 2012 .

[6]  M. Toffel,et al.  Do CEO Activists Make a Difference? Evidence from a Quasi-Field Experiment , 2016 .

[8]  Á. Moreno,et al.  Communication Excellence: How to Develop, Manage and Lead Exceptional Communications , 2017 .

[9]  Joep Cornelissen,et al.  Bridging Corporate and Organizational Communication: Review, Development and a Look to the Future , 2011 .

[10]  Yan Jin,et al.  Keeping up with the digital age: How the American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships , 2011 .

[11]  José Carlos Losada-Díaz,et al.  A comunicação dos museus de arte no Facebook: comparação entre as principais instituições internacionais e as espanholas , 2015 .

[12]  L. Men.  CEO credibility, perceived organizational reputation, and employee engagement , 2012 .

[13]  Paul Capriotti,et al.  Testing the level of interactivity of institutional websites: From museums 1.0 to museums 2.0 , 2016, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[14]  Samuel A. Terilli,et al.  The CEO as Celebrity Blogger: Is There a Ghost or Ghostwriter in the Machine? , 2008 .

[15]  Bruce K. Berger,et al.  The Presentation of CEOs in the Press, 1990-2000: Increasing Salience, Positive Valence, and a Focus on Competency and Personal Dimensions of Image , 2004 .

[16]  J. Verhoeven,et al.  Understanding social media governance: seizing opportunities, staying out of trouble , 2017 .

[17]  Scott Nash.  Television Executive Producers' Use of Twitter as a Public Relations Tool , 2015 .

[18]  Assumpció Huertas,et al.  Comunicación de destinos turísticos a través de los medios sociales , 2015 .

[19]  Luis Deltell,et al.  Twitter en las campañas comunicativas de películas cinematográficas , 2013 .

[20]  Dejan Verčič,et al.  Managing CEO communication and positioning: A cross-national study among corporate communication leaders , 2016 .

[21]  Carlos de las Heras Pedrosa,et al.  Factores influyentes en el éxito de la comunicación hospitalaria vía redes sociales , 2016 .

[22]  L. Men,et al.  Public engagement with CEOs on social media: Motivations and relational outcomes , 2016 .

[23]  Donald K. Wright,et al.  An Analysis of the Increasing Impact of Social and Other New Media on Public Relations Practice , 2009 .

[24]  Adel M. Aladwani.  Facilitators, characteristics, and impacts of Twitter use: Theoretical analysis and empirical illustration , 2015, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[25]  Alexander Frame,et al.  Le tweet stratégique: Use of Twitter as a PR tool by French politicians , 2015 .

[26]  Winni Johansen,et al.  Emotional stakeholders as “crisis communicators” in social media: The case of the Telenor customer complaints crisis , 2016 .

[27]  Noa Aharony,et al.  Twitter Use by three Political Leaders: An Exploratory Analysis , 2012, Online Inf. Rev..

[28]  J. Grunig.  Image and substance: From symbolic to behavioral relationships , 1993 .

[29]  María Cruz López de Ayala-López,et al.  La comunicación pública de los alcaldes a través de Twitter en periodo electoral , 2016 .

[30]  Cristina Navarro,et al.  Does social media usage matter? An analysis of online practices and digital media perceptions of communication practitioners in Europe , 2015 .