Articles

21.2.2011 Brand giants get social

The vast majority of the world's biggest companies are now active on social media, with firms like IBM, Ford and Hewlett-Packard leading the way. Burson-Marsteller, the PR network, assessed the Web 2.0 outputof the Fortune Global 100, a list housing Wal-Mart, Toyota, General Electric, China Mobile and Procter & Gamble. It analysed the uptake of microblogs such as Twitter, social networks including Facebook, video-sharing platforms like YouTube and corporate blogs. Overall, 84% of the organisations monitored use at least one channel, an increase of five percentage points on a study published last year. More specifically, 67% of Asian operators leverage such communications tools, improving from 50% last year, but Europe was flat on 89%, and the US logged a two-point decline, recording 84%. A quarter of contributors exploit all four routes, hitting 34% in the US and 33% in APAC - both growing on an annual basis - while Europe remained static, registering 15%.

"Global companies are now demonstrating greater comfort with the interactive nature of social networks and are more willing to engage their stakeholders directly on these platforms," said Mark Penn, Burson-Marsteller's worldwide ceo. In all, 80% of Fortune 100 members are regularly discussed by Twitter's audience, and 77% currently boast accounts on this or alternative microblogs. The latter total reached 83% in Europe, measured against 72% for their US counterparts, and 67% when considering rivals based in Asia.

B.L. 21.2.2011