The Board Blog: Social Networking—Do You Really Care What I’m Doing?

Let me start this blog with a full disclosure. I have Twitter on my Blackberry, but have no Facebook or LinkedIn personal account. I have at least considered LinkedIn, but was scared off by knowing that I couldn’t keep up with any other new communication task beyond what I currently have today, so why set myself up to disappoint or be rude? The only reason I have Twitter is because my tech guy put it on my PDA so I could see who was re-tweeting this blog. (More on that in a moment) Personally, I have never tweeted and find the Twitter home page question “What are you doing?” to be just bizarre. I know people really get a charge out of following a celebrity or friend who lets them know that they’re going to the movies or just bought a new car, but I just don’t have time to be cool. So for those of you that have found personal and professional value in the art of social networking, I applaud you. As for me, I’m a slow learner and have not found the holy networking grail yet. (Although some might argue this blog is just one massive tweet!)

Now, all that aside, there is something very enlightening about how social networks can push content and information out to millions of people that you truly want to reach and who are actually interested in what you are doing professionally. Example: People have signed up to follow Corporate Board Member by clicking on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn on our website. (www.boardmember.com) Every time I write a blog or we post a new interview on the site, a “tweet” or a Facebook posting goes out to our followers so they can click through to view that new content. Just think about that for a moment. Every business should be happy as a clam to have followers. And to make matters more interesting, let’s say I quote that the most recent legal research Corporate Board Member does with FTI Consulting shows that regulatory compliance is clearly one of the biggest issues concerning boards and general counsels in the next 12 months. Not only do we tweet that information to our followers, but FTI Consulting now has the opportunity to “re-tweet” this information so all their followers can gain access to the content as well. Networking is indeed a great term for this phenomenon… although it’s dubious how “social” it is, because it’s anything but social when you consider these distribution capabilities.

I joked about Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn in the opening but what I’m about to say is very serious. Every director needs to know about the impact that these networks will have on their business. And this impact can be positive or negative. It may well become a major reason why boards will need to make sure they have a blend of skill sets and are diverse about knowing how our world is evolving and their strategic initiatives need to change along with it.

Really want to know what I’m doing right now?...... I’m learning something new that will make me a more effective CEO and board member.