The purpose of the project is to understand how CEOs of Finnish publicly listed companies utilise Twitter to communicate on behalf of themselves and the company they are representing and what kind of Twitter use strategies are connected to a successful Twitter presence.
Background
CEOs are increasingly seen as the face of the company they are representing, and personal communication from the CEO can be more effective than the official communication of the organisation. Twitter allows CEOs to broadcast their message to a wide audience and influence the image of the company they represent. So far, however, there is little knowledge on how CEOs use Twitter to achieve this purpose.
Goal
The aim of the research is to find out how CEOs utilise Twitter. What is the content and tone of their tweets, which topics are being discussed and with whom? The goal is to understand what kind of communication strategies are linked to a successful Twitter presence, where the CEO is able to broadcast their message to a large audience.
Impact
As successful communication is one of the cornerstones of a successful company, this knowledge is useful to both companies and their CEOs. The research provides new information to the field of leadership communication by showing how CEOs communicate on this new platform, and advances online communication research, so far largely focused on politicians, by providing new information on how the platform is utilised by a different user group.
Funding source
Foundation for Economic Education
Co-operators
Tampere University
Häme University of Applied Sciences
Contact persons
Professor
Pekka Isotalus
pekka.isotalus [at] uta.fi
+358 50 3605221