2013 Fortune 500 Are Bullish on Social Media! Companies are getting excited about Google+, Instagram, Foursquare and Pinterest!

1. Fortune 500’s Increased Blog Adoption By 6%According to a 7th
Annual
Benchmarking Study
Twitter is used by 77% of Fortune 500 Companies making it their first choice tool followed
by Facebook and YouTubeAccording to a Study by the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research
In the past year, the Fortune 500have increased their adoption of blogging by 6%, their
use of Twitter for corporate communications by 4% and their use of Facebook pages by
4%. Sixty-nine percent of the 2013 Fortune 500 use YouTube, an increase of 7% from
2012. These was among the key findings of the latest benchmarking study conducted by
Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Research Co-Chair of the Society for
New Communications Research and Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
The new report is the outcome of a statistically valid study of the 2013 Fortune 500 list.
The study examined these institutions to quantify their adoption of social media tools and
technologies. This is the seventh year that Barnes has tracked social media usage by this
sector, and it is the only statistically valid longitudinal study of its kind with every
company in the Fortune 500 included. Key findings of this study include:
In 2013, 171 companies (34%) had corporate blogs showing the largest increase
in use of this tool since the 2008 study of the Fortune 500.
Companies blogging include two of the top five corporations (Wal-Mart and
Exxon), leaving the other three (Chevron, Phillips 66 and Berkshire Hathaway)
without a public-facing blog.
Three hundred eighty-seven (77%) of the Fortune 500 have corporate Twitter
accounts with a tweet in the past thirty days. This represents a 4% increase since
2012.
Facebook, new to the Fortune 500 list, has the highest number of followers on
Twitter, followed by Google, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market, Walt Disney,
JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines.
Three hundred forty-eight (70%) of the Fortune 500 are now on Facebook. This
represents a 4% increase since 2012.
In 2012 one hundred fifteen companies (23%) had neither a Twitter account nor a
Facebook account. This year that number has dropped to eighty-four companies
(17%).
Approximately 40 companies are now using Instagram, Pinterest and/or
Foursquare.

2. “The adoption of blogs by the Fortune 500 shows interest in thought leadership, creating
conversation in some depth and generating original content,” stated Barnes. It is exciting
to see this mature tool grabbing hold when many of the newer tools tout brevity and
speed as their major features.”
“This is a group that now seems comfortable, she continued, and even excited with its
newfound ability to engage its vendors, partners, customers and others in ways that could
not have been imagined when most of their corporations began.”
A full copy of the new research report as well as an info graphic version of the results can
be downloaded at:
http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch/
For questions or inquiries regarding corporate speaking engagements Barnes can be
reached at nbarnes@umassd.edu.