Wolfstar: report on social media usage

Should every business have a Twitter feed, a Facebook page or someone engaged in social media, even if they don’t really know what it’s for?

A new report out today says that while 60 per cent of companies in the FTSE Global 500 have some social media platform, under 10 per cent are ‘effectively using social media to support their corporate and social responsibility activity’.

If you’ve guessed that this report has been put out by a consultancy that works with big companies on their social media strategy, then you’ve probably been working in marketing/PR/media too long and are probably quite cynical (but also: correct). Although it is also backed by the division of the United Nations that encourages private sector participation in tackling global problems.

It’s easy to gasp at the fact that only 56 companies out of the 500 have a Twitter presence at all. But it’s also easy to imagine that these companies have had conversations about Twitter and wondered what use it would really be for them.

Possibly more shocking is the fact that only 22 companies in the list of 500 bother with blogs. Writing about tech and new media companies so often, company blogs is now probably the primary that I source information about them. I mean, it’s cheap, it’s a good way to get your message out without some pesky Financial Times or Wall Street Journal reporter putting their spin on it, and it must save press offices at least some time.

It’s also interesting to see which sectors are more likely to be using social media to try and persuade us that they’re not really the bad guys: banks are the biggest users, followed by oil and gas producers, pharma and biotech companies and then tech companies. It’s not hard to guess why the first three of those sectors are keen on advancing their ‘we’re not so awful really’ strategies. The fourth, tech, well how else would they tell us about the great stuff they do?

The Global Social Media and CSR Report 2011