Social Media Use
by Fortune 100 Companies

About the Burson-Marsteller Fortune 100
Social Media Study
• The study examined the Fortune 100’s current use of key social media tools
including Twitter, Facebook, Fanpages and Blogs. The analysis looked to tally
what percentage of the Fortune 100 is now using each of these channels to
engage directly with stakeholders. The Data was collected between July 2nd
and July 17th and is based on content that is accessible within a reasonable
effort, i.e. by Facebook or Google search for the company name or looking for a
blog on a corporate site.
• Twitter - The study tallied official Twitter accounts for Fortune 100 companies.
This tally does not include independent subsidiary brands that do not share a
name with the parent company.
• Facebook - The study identified whether there was an established Facebook
fan page for each company within the Fortune 100. The study examined
corporate pages, but not individual brand fan pages.
• Blogs - The study tallied whether each Fortune 100 company had a branded
corporate blog easily accessible from its corporate homepage.

Percentage of Fortune 100 using each
Social Media Channel
Twitter now platform
of choice
*Active - Regular postings and evidence the company interacts and/or posts content on the page.

Fortune 100 Companies and Social Media
Percent of Fortune 100 Companies active on Twitter,
Facebook, and their Corporate Blog
Blog Facebook
10% 14%
Twitter
One 76%
Channel
21%
None Companies using just one social
media channel overwhelmingly
40% use Twitter (76%)
Two
Channels Blog Facebook
and Twitter and Twitter
All 22% 64% 36%
Three
Channels
17%
Companies using two
channels likely to use
Blog and Twitter (64%)

Industry Analysis Within the Fortune 100 Companies
on Twitter
Number of
Percentage Percentage Percentage on
Breakdown by Industry Fortune 100
with a blog on Facebook Twitter
Companies
Petroleum Refining 9 11% 11% 22%
Commercial Bank 8 25% 0% 38%
Aerospace and Defense 6 33% 17% 50%
Food and Drug Stores 6 17% 33% 50%
General Merchandiser 4 50% 75% 100%
Healthcare: Insurance and 4 0% 0% 50%
Managed Care
Insurance: Property and Casualty 4 0% 25% 50%
Specialty Retailers 4 50% 50% 100%
Telecommunications 4 75% 100% 100%
Computers, Office Equipment 3 67% 100% 67%
Entertainment 3 0% 0% 67%
Motor Vehicles and Parts 3 67% 67% 67%
Pharmaceuticals 3 33% 0% 33%
Wholesalers: Health Care 3 0% 0% 33%
Table limited to industries with at least three companies in Fortune 100

Fortune 100 Companies
on Twitter

Fortune 100 Companies with Twitter Accounts
Not on
On Twitter Twitter
54% 46%

Some Key Findings - Fortune 100 Social Media Study
• Sixty-nine percent of companies that have at least one active Twitter account
post frequently
(at least four times a week).
• Currently the Fortune 100 are using Twitter primarily
– To distribute news and updates about their company
– As an extension of their customer service
– To announce marketing promotions
– As part of employee recruitment/human resources efforts
• The technology industry is by far the most active sector on Twitter with companies
including Dell, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, and HP each having a number of
accounts.
• In addition to the corporate accounts, there are a number of locally focused
Twitter accounts that were created by local units or offices of the Fortune 100.
For example, Best Buy’s Arkansas stores have an account with 536 followers.
Such accounts were not examined in this study, but are a growing presence on
Twitter and robust additions to a corporate account. The local presence allows
for more specific direct marketing.

How Twitter is Used By the Fortune 100
News/Updates/Announcements 94%
Customer Service/Direct 67%
Marketing Responses
Promotions/Deals/Contests 57%
Human Resources/Job Postings 11%
Descriptions of Twitter Uses
• News/Updates/Announcements: Industry or company news, postings about updates to a company
blog or website, announcements about products or events
• Customer Service/Direct Marketing Responses: Communication from the company account with
consumers or potential consumers, responses about service or products, answers to questions about
the service or product, or even suggestions or tips
• Promotions/Deals/Contests: Sweepstakes or contests, promotions or discounts, or sales online or in
store
• Human Resources/Job postings: Lists open positions, posts information about hiring or Human
Resources, posts resources or tips for applying for a position

How Twitter is Used By the Fortune 100
Examples of Customer Service/ Direct Marketing Response Outside of
Consumer Product Sales and Communications Technology Industries
Although the healthcare industry is only
moderately involved on Twitter, UnitedHealth
Group recently started @ConnectingCare with
Vice President and medical director of telehealth
Jim Woodburn tweeting updates, responses, and
announcements.
Privacy and Security
Bank of America will never
ask you to disclose your
social security number,
Bank of America launched financial account information,
passwords, or PINs via Twitter.
Twitter is a third party site
a customer service Twitter unaffiliated with Bank of America,
and Bank of America is not
responsible for the privacy or
account @BofA_Help. security policies or practices
on Twitter. You should review the
privacy and security practices of
They include this security Twitter. You can review Bank of
America privacy and security
practices by visiting
warning to ensure that bankofamerica.com
We are not soliciting ideas. If you
customers do not divulge send us ideas, we own them, and
you will not receive compensation.
passwords or other
personal information via
Twitter.

How Twitter is Used By the Fortune 100 Cont.
Examples of Promotions/Deals/Contests
Walgreens promotes certain
products and specials.
State Farm Insurance
promotes an online
contest through their
Twitter account
@StateFarmIns.

How Twitter is Used By the Fortune 100 Cont.
Examples of Human Resources/Job Postings
Here, UPS posts a
range of positions
available in all of its
different offices on
@UPSjobs.

Fortune 100 Twitter Account Followers
• Of all the Fortune 100 Twitter Accounts, the average number of
followers is 5,234, yet the median is 674 followers.
The discrepancy is due to outliers at the end of the range.
When examining the ten Twitter accounts with the most followers…
• Over the past three months, the number of followers on these accounts
has steadily increased. Eight of the ten accounts have more than
doubled the number of followers than it had three months ago.
• The following chart marks the growth of the largest ten accounts over
the past month. The dramatic increases suggest the growing popularity
of Twitter as a means of communication with stakeholders.

Percentage Increase of Followers over the Past Month
of the Ten Twitter Accounts with the Most Followers
* Chart uses change in number of followers from June 15 th to July 15th. Data collected from twittercounter.com
** There was a sharp increase in Microsoft account followers because the company just began posting
on July 1st. On June 30th, Microsoft had 980 followers. On July 15th, they had 11,081.

Fortune 100 Companies
on Facebook

Fortune 100 Companies with Facebook Pages
Active
29%
No Page
43%
Inactive
28%
Inactive - A page with little to no activity, few if any postings, and/or no indication that
the page was begun or managed by the company.
Active - Regular postings and evidence the company interacts and/or posts content on the page.

Facebook Fan Pages
• The pages are overwhelmingly consumer focused offering
– Promotions and product information.
– Some firms also promote their philanthropy and community.
– Some companies are using the discussion boards and the “Wall” to
engage consumers and
– Some use page to answer questions and others are not yet at that stage
but being transparent.
(Below examples from AT&T and TIAA CREF)

Facebook Pages Continued
• Twenty-nine percent of Fortune 100 companies are actively
communicating via a Facebook Fan page compared with the fifty-four
percent that are using Twitter accounts
• Twenty-five of the Fortune 100 Companies have both Twitter accounts
and active Facebook pages.
• Many companies have a groups on Facebook, but do not have a
Facebook page. Others have inactive or unofficial fan pages that do
not communicate any corporate information.

Fortune 100 Companies with
Corporate Blogs

Fortune 100 Companies with Corporate Blogs
No Blog Blog
68% 32%

Blog Analysis
• Fortune 100 blog content typically includes current projects, external
initiatives, and corporation’s community involvement/corporate social
responsibility initiatives.
• Many of the corporate blogs are written by executives in order to
personally communicate company initiatives and convey sense of
accessibility to management
• Like its participation in Twitter, the technology and telecommunications
industries also have high involvement in blogs, with companies
including Dell, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, and HP maintaining a
number of blogs specific to products or services, as well as employee
blogs from all divisions and levels of the corporation. They often use
blog rolls to aggregate all the blog content to one source.

Key Findings – Fortune 100 Blogs
• Many companies have avoided maintaining a blog and have instead
gone straight to Twitter
• All companies that have at least one blog remain active and post
consistently (regular time intervals of weekly or monthly.)
• Industries least active in the blogosphere are the Healthcare and Food
industries. Food Companies tend to be more active at brand level.
Media companies tend not to have a corporate blog, but their
subsidiaries maintain many blogs.
• The companies that do not have blogs do provide other ways to relay
news and information in more traditional ways, most commonly a news
roll or press release media section.
• Many companies often link to or incorporate external individual blogs
from stakeholders encouraging them to share their own experiences
with the company’s products.