Top Fortune 100 companies least likely to see social media as worthwhile investment

I think I’m meant to be amazed that the latest Social Media Influence report says that 41% of companies in the Fortune 100 don’t have anyone working for them whose job title indicates that they are in charge of social media – but I’m more surprised that the percentage of companies who DO have someone with this title is so high.

The Fortune Global 100 list is dominated ( 44 out of 100) by petroleum/energy firms and financial services and this group is least likely to prioritise social media as a worthwhile investment.

I don’t know how the person who buys Rio Tinto’s energy makes their decision about who to go with, but I’m guessing it’s not by checking out which energy supplier has the most fans on their Facebook page. So the fact is, at the moment social media just isn’t as important for some companies as it is for others.

I know, you’re sitting there going “What about BP?! They totally don’t get social media.” But I think even the issue of bad PR beings spread by Twitter is probably over-egged. As has been pointed out after many different Twitter witch hunts, people on the site tend to be talking like-minded souls: when you criticise BP on your Twitter feed, you’re probably reaching an audience of people already sceptical about energy companies and their green credentials rather than one of BP’s significant shareholders.

The fact that it is not so important might also indicate why these companies also more likely to outsource their social media operation to a third party agency –  that is if they invest in social media at all.

That tells you why so many consultants, social media start-up agencies, and people with social media skills are in such demand. And that demand is rising. The number of social media job postings (in the US) has increased by more than 600% from just over 3,000 social media job postings in 2005 to 21,323 job postings as of May, 31, 2010 according to online recruitment site Indeed.com.

The report suggests that this disparity demonstrates a lack of confidence by management in choosing to farm out the company’s social media and robbing the company of an opportunity to interact directly with the public.

As we have seen this numerous times this can leave the company on the back foot when controversy arises in social forums.

What’s interesting is that while only 59% have hired a social media specialist someone 79% of Fortune Global 100 firms have at least one type of social media channel (Twitter feed, Facebook presence, YouTube channel or corporate blog), which is usually being managed by someone in PR or marketing or even IT and often not very well. Compared that to The Gatorade story we ran yesterday with its Social Media Command Center.

You can download the full report here.