Maybe it’s the effectiveness of building on that all-important customer relationship model. Maybe it’s the necessity of engaging with employees and providing a more humane side to the otherwise mundane concrete corporate world. Or maybe it’s to expose products through a social company mouthpiece. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s all about waving aside that rigid business acumen and following that lovely intern you just hired in a non-spooky your-boss-is-stalking-you kind of way. Besides, Obama’s on Twitter.
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Here’s our list of 13 CEOs worth following on Twitter:
- Sir Richard Branson: Virgin Group Chairman
Twitter username: @richardbranson
Followers: 814 357
Following: 6 413
Why to follow: Branson tweets regularly (at least once a day) on his current thoughts and activities, almost always tying his tweets to some or other Virgin property. He’s also been known to tweet about elephants. - Bill Gates: Former Microsoft CEO
Twitter username: @billgates
Followers: 2 230 984
Following: 63
Why follow: One of the world’s wealthiest men is also the world’s biggest philanthropist and his tweets are inspiring musings. He avoids tweeting about Microsoft however. - Eric Schmidt: Google CEO (up until 04 April 2011)
Twitter username: @ericschmidt
Followers: 255 364
Following: 96
Why follow: Despite his tweeting once every two weeks, it’s hard not to want to follow the (soon-to-be-former) Google CEO whose tweets are informative and useful. - Jack Welch: Former GE CEO
Twitter username: @jack_welch
Followers: 1 303 455
Following: 28
Why follow: The former CEO of General Electric and a revolutionary on managerial strategy. Welch’s tweets range from links to business articles to his thoughts on movies, public figures and current events. - Jason Calcanis: Mahalo.com Founder
Twitter username: @Jason
Followers: 109 958
Following: 40 857
Why follow: The entrepreneur and founder of mahalo.com has become an internet phenomenon with breaking news, press leaks and constant interactivity making his Twitter stream one of the most engaging. - Tim O’ Reilly: Founder and CEO O’ Reilly Media
Twitter username: @timoreilly
Followers: 1 444 252
Following: 721
Why follow: O’ Reilly aims to ‘redistribute the future’ by paying attention to people at the edge, the ‘alpha geek’ and judging by his tech-centric Twitter stream and number of followers, O’ Reilly Media’s CEO is a definite Twitter ‘must-follow‘. - Martha Stewart: Martha Stewart Living
Twitter username: @marthastewart
Followers: 2 130 956
Following: 8 236
Why follow: The American business woman and media magnate’s Twitter page often suffers from simple spelling mistakes and grammatical errors – a welcome indication of the picture-perfect stereotype. - Evan Williams: Twitter Founder
Twitter username: @ev
Followers: 1 299 693
Following: 1 287
Why follow: Well, this list would be incomplete without including at least one of the Twitter co-founders. Williams’ stream is laid-back and lighthearted – a tribute to the days when CEOs were just a bunch of geeky guys in a small rented office space. - Guy Kawasaki: Alltop Co-Founder
Twitter username: @guykawasaki
Followers: 314 395
Following: 305 508
Why follow: Using Twitter as a broadcasting tool, Kawasaki is keen on promoting Alltop, the content aggregator he helped found. His tweets (often managed by his employees) range from social media & technology to business niches and advice. - Craig Newmark: Founder of Craiglists.com
Twitter username: @craignewmark
Followers: 33 185
Following: 770
Why follow: Okay so Newmark retweets a lot and loves to tweet his location via Foursquare. But the Craigslist CEO also interacts with his followers and as @Alliebug74 ‘s first grade school found out, has been known to donate generously. - Diane Hesson: Communispace CEO
Twitter username: @communispaceCEO
Followers: 12 491
Following: 9 816
Why follow: Hessan uses Twitter as a vehicle for getting information about Communispace into the marketplace fast. Which pretty much sums up the strategy of most Twitter CEOs on our list. - George Colony: CEO Forrester Research
Twitter username: @gcolony
Followers: 8 754
Following: 46
Why follow: Colony’s Twitter stream manages to pull the right mix of tech, entrepreneurial and business related tweets and tie them directly to his personal blog on forrester.com - Doug Ulman: CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation
Twitter username: @livestrongCEO
Followers: 995 767
Following: 38 217
Why follow: Ulman’s Twitter stream is filled with feel-good, inspirational tweets, as you would expect from the CEO of a cancer non-profit organisation.