- 21
- FEB
- 2012
Nothing Wrong With Executives Going Personal On Twitter
Author: Maggie Slowik - Categories: Procurement Intelligence
What makes a good and reliable data source for procurement? According to our latest research, CPO Strategy 2012, one-fifth (20%) of senior procurement executives believe it is social media. Some might see this as a good sign; others will think this number could be higher.
The adoption of social media within the sourcing community provides endless ground for discussion. Is social media reliable? Does it pose security risks and inevitably lead to data loss? And to what extent does it contribute to innovation?
Being a regular user of all kinds of social media, I value its benefits, both from a personal- and work-perspective. One of them is the speed at which news travel: there have been a few incidents where I learned a piece of news over Facebook or Twitter before I heard it on TV or the radio.
But here is one thing about social media, and Twitter in particular, that just baffles me. Those who use it for business purposes will a spend considerable amount of effort and time on building a substantial and presentable network. It’s about following the right kind of people and perhaps more importantly, it’s about being “followed” by credible individuals and groups. Those of you who are active Twitter users likely know that I mean.
Admittedly, I’m careful about who I choose to follow on Twitter, but lately, I have been shocked at the quality of tweets coming from those who I have deemed as credible sources of business information, and yes some of them are procurement professionals indeed,
I don’t know about you but I cringe when reading read tweets from executives, thought leaders or any business-related individuals about their next shopping trip, the lunch they just ate or how unattractive their husband looks in the morning.
But, as I was recently advised by my colleague, tweeting mundane content once in a while helps to give active Twitter users a “personal” touch, otherwise they might be mistaken as “news transmitters”. And nobody wants to follow that type of “person” on Twitter. Somehow, something’s gotta give on social media.
Comments
Juanita
Tue 21 Feb 2012 11:23
Last year, I saw a string of tweets by a procurement professional giving her thoughts on candidates for a position she was recruiting for. This was a fairly senior level buyer, with both her name and face on her twitter account.
She gave her public views of the merits of the candidates (or, most humorously their lack of merits) throughout the day in a stream of vitriolic commentary. This culminated in an angry denouncement of the person that was eventually offered the position who had the 'stupidity' to consult her husband before accepting the job.