Only 3 per cent of FTSE 100 business leaders are actively engaged in social media claims recent research by global communications consultancy Text100. The study of board-level executives also found that less than one third (27 per cent) have established a profile on LinkedIn. The number drops further when exploring wider channels, with less than 1 per cent of executives contributing to blogs.

The ten most digitally engaged leaders in the UK are listed below:

• Anne Richards, chief investment officer, Aberdeen Asset Management
• Samir Brikho, chief executive, AMEC
• Mark Read, CEO, WPP Digital
• Robert Boyle, director of strategy, IAG
• Euan Sutherland, COO, Kingfisher
• Bobby Godsell, chairman, Polymetal International
• Angela Ahrendts, CEO, Burberry
• Micky Arison, CEO, Carnival
• Amanda Mackenzie, CMO, Aviva
• Philip Clarke, group chief executive, Tesco

This research highlights how many businesses are failing to take advantage of the PR benefits of using social media well. For example, previous research mentioned in the report shows that 81 per cent of US business employees believe CEOs who are engaged in social media are better equipped to lead business. Discussing the report, Dan Baxter, managing director of Text100, says: “These findings indicate that we‘re a very, very long way from the day when the people running Britain‘s largest companies have a natural affinity with the modern digital world.

“You can look at this in two ways. On the one hand it’s a little disappointing that the UK’s top executives are not currently making better use of social channels, but it’s hardly surprising that this should be the case. We think a more positive viewpoint is that there’s still a massive opportunity ahead. As more digital-savvy leaders rise to the higher echelons of British business, we can expect to see those organisations adopting ever more innovative models and reinventing themselves in exciting new ways. The best is yet to come.”

Methodology
 

The findings come from the report Text100 Digital Index: Business Leaders. The research focused on the FTSE 100, the one hundred largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, and evaluated three board-level executives from each company in a range of different roles, but including the CEO. Executive presence was examined across a number of different social channels including blogs, Twitter, video and image sharing sites LinkedIn, Quora, Google+, Pinterest and others, but deliberately ignored Facebook on the grounds that this is considered “personal space” by most people.