I jumped into the #socialchat tweet chat and saw this fascinating infographic from CEO.com about the future of the Social Savvy CEO. The most eye-opening part is how younger CEOs (40 and under, born 1972) are using social media to communicate with the public. The 40-49 group is interesting because in that span you have the tail end of the Boomers, and the beginning of the Gen X-ers (born 1965-1980) who grew up with the Web, so jumping into social is an easier transition.
The younger CEO group is significantly more social as social media has now become a necessity to business versus a "because we should." The 40 and under crowd is growing up with social and embracing it faster than their older counterparts because social is no longer just for business.
Social has become a part of everyday life. So, for these younger CEOs communicating with the public via social networks would come naturally.
After games, social networking is the 2nd most used category of apps. Makes sense. When we're done playing Words With Friends, we head to Facebook to see what fun is happening on our stream, and then tap over to Twitter and Instagram for our micro-social-interaction fix. And now with Pinterest, you have to pry the phone from my cold-pinning fingers.
And oh yeah, all this socialness is part of our jobs now. In fact, valued resume experience and background checks now include your public social activity. As the Founder of a mobile healthy living apps startup, who was a professional blogger for six years prior, social networking for me is as natural as breathing. I can't even fathom doing business without interacting with our customers and the public through social.
As far as branding goes, there is so much noise and competition going on that getting and retaining anyone's attention will go to the ones who are good at bonding with people through social networking. Why? Because we like to to buy and promote people we like and love, and make an effort to connect with us. As we move into a more Empathy-driven ecomony, CEOs and Founders who are accessible and mingle amongst the people will win.
During #socialchat, I asked in what year would social CEOs become norms vs exceptions. The consensus was in 4-5 years.
I think it could happen within 3-4 years. The iPad is only a little over 2 years old and look how much that one device changed things. It's no longer unfathomable for some new technology to come out and cause dramatic change in a short period of time like months versus years.
CEOs are under more pressure to be profitable, and thrive. Social media and now mobile are clearly making and breaking not just companies but whole industries like newspapers and publishing. Smart CEOs will embrace social sooner than later.
So what do you think. When will social CEOs become norms versus exceptions?
