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"Social networks like Facebook and Twitter may be gaining users at a quick pace, but at least one group continues to be hesitant about joining: CEOs.\nOnly 18% of the CEOs of the world's top 50 biggest companies by revenue have one or more social networking accounts, according to a study released Tuesday by global pr firm Weber Shandwick. By comparison, the firm conducted a similar study in 2010 and found that 16% of the top CEOs had at least one social networking account, suggesting that not much has changed in the past three years.\nThe problem, according to the firm's president of digital, Chris Perry, is that maintaining a profile can be time-consuming and the risks of doing so for CEOs may be viewed as outweighing the rewards. \"There is a risk with off-the-cuff commentary,\" Perry told Mashable. \"There are lots of examples of that hurting CEOs and the companies for being seen as undisciplined.\"\nIndeed, the study found that one social network in particular \u2014 Twitter \u2014 has actually lost members of this elite CEO group, a fact that Perry says could be due in part to a greater perceived potential for risk there compared to LinkedIn or Facebook. Between 2010 and this year, the percentage of the top 50 CEOs on Facebook grew from 4% to 10% while the percentage on Twitter dropped from 8% to 2%. \nThere is at least one notable exception to this trend, however: GE's CEO Jeff Immelt joined Twitter in September and has tweeted several dozen times since. \nIt may be a sensible precaution for CEOs, but the downside is the company misses out on a potentially powerful way to engage with customers and get its message out there. What's more, the firm found that one-third of top CEOs had their names tied to fake social media accounts, showing the downside of not establishing a presence on these sites.\nEven though the vast majority of top CEOs don't have personal accounts on social networking sites, they do maintain a social presence online on behalf of the company in other ways. Weber Shandwick found that 66% of the CEOs engaged online through biographies and videos on company websites as well as videos shared on YouTube, nearly double the 36% of CEOs who engaged this way back in 2010. \n\"These chief executives understand that their role does not change as storyteller-in-chief in the social age, it's just a matter of how do you participate through company-owned properties rather than personal properties,\" Perry said. \"They understand they have to be a leading voice, but they don't think they have to spend their time amassing followers.\" \n\nImage courtesy of Flickr, eschipul; infographic courtesy of Weber Shandwick"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/01/15/ceos-social-networks/>