Comments on: Why Don’t Fortune 100 CEOs Care About Social Media? http://www.developmentcorporate.com/2009/07/19/why-don%e2%80%99t-fortune-100-ceos-care-about-social-media/ Musings of a Reformed Private Equity Operator Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:02:43 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Jesse Torres http://www.developmentcorporate.com/2009/07/19/why-don%e2%80%99t-fortune-100-ceos-care-about-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-746 Jesse Torres Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:05:42 +0000 http://www.developmentcorporate.com/?p=791#comment-746 John, Excellent insight. I generally agree with the points you make. However, I believe it goes far beyond that. As you state, these companies sit at the top of the corporate food chain. They are also so intertwined with so many industries, countries, investors, etc. As such, it becomes difficult to make "honest and transparent" comments on Twitter, Facebook, et al, without fearing that somehow a professional relationship that sits downstream might be damaged. There is just too much potential downside for current or potential business. A lower level staffer might be able to get away with using social media in an honest way because those comments will not end up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. We've all seen comments by media-watched individuals get taken out of context for the sake of creating sensationalism. And we've seen comments that were not well thought out and off-the-cuff (typical tweets) get worldwide press (e.g, Obama's "stupidly" comment re: police arrest of Gates). So while I do not disagree that these are busy men and women who may have better use for their time, in my opinion it is only part of the answer. Would love to hear other's comments. Jesse Torres President and CEO Pan American Bank 3626 East First Street Los Angeles, CA 90063 John,
Excellent insight. I generally agree with the points you make. However, I believe it goes far beyond that. As you state, these companies sit at the top of the corporate food chain. They are also so intertwined with so many industries, countries, investors, etc. As such, it becomes difficult to make “honest and transparent” comments on Twitter, Facebook, et al, without fearing that somehow a professional relationship that sits downstream might be damaged. There is just too much potential downside for current or potential business. A lower level staffer might be able to get away with using social media in an honest way because those comments will not end up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

We’ve all seen comments by media-watched individuals get taken out of context for the sake of creating sensationalism. And we’ve seen comments that were not well thought out and off-the-cuff (typical tweets) get worldwide press (e.g, Obama’s “stupidly” comment re: police arrest of Gates).

So while I do not disagree that these are busy men and women who may have better use for their time, in my opinion it is only part of the answer.

Would love to hear other’s comments.

Jesse Torres
President and CEO
Pan American Bank
3626 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90063

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