Social media has taken off among the general population, and with a growing number companies, but social media in the C-suite has found a slower reception. A DOMO study in July 2012 found only 30 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs on social media, while Mediabistro.com reported 47.6 percent of all CEOs are involved in any social media platform of any kind. Among that count those who blog comprise a truly small number.
Researching CEOs who blog leads to quite a number of dead ends and dead blogs. Whether time, immeasurable ROI or something else be the issue, many CEOs who begin blogs abandon them in short order. Few "top CEO blogs" from previous years are relevant today.
If the zombie apocalypse needs a good starting point I recommend that digital wasteland for its place of origin.
This lack of participation is unfortunate. Whether at a maturing start up or a Fortune 500 stalwart, CEOs have a store of practical knowledge interesting to current employees, potential employees, customers and the general public. A CEO who blogs consistently and well can build an enormous amount of goodwill for the company he or she leads.
Over the last few weeks I set out to find a few quality blogs from CEOs. These are the criteria (admittedly subjective in some cases) by which I judged them: frequency of posting, fresh content, design, Internet rankings, and interaction. "Blogs" serving as aggregators for the CEO's tweets were omitted, as were those that served as little more than sales promotion. Organizational blogs (blogs.computerworld.com, blogs.hbr.com) were also excluded since CEOs are the focus.
Defining the criteria:
Frequency- number of new posts per average week
Content- based on freshness, 1 (rotten) through 5 (fresh)
Design- rated 1 (bland) to 5 (top notch)
Interaction- rated 1 (disappearing act) through 5 (regular engagement)
Rankings- raw numbers from four ranking sites (ww = worldwide, nd = no data, italics includes top domain, not only the blog)
Here, in alphabetical order by last name, are Nine CEO blogs for 2013 that will be of help to business people and casual readers.
George Colony, The Counterintuitive CEO, Forrester Research
Colony almost did not make the list due to the infrequency of his posts. It is clear, though, that people are interested in his content. Each post elicits numerous comments.
Frequency- < 1
Content- 5
Design- 3
Interaction- 3
Rankings
- Alexa- 19,154 (ww), 9,571(US)
- Compete- nd
- Google- 6
- Opensite Explorer: 85
Mark Cuban, blog maverick, Dallas Mavericks and others
The wild-brand owner of the Dallas Mavericks and venture capital panelist on Shark Tank has a blog reflective of his temperament. His decision to pull all advertising from Facebook was announced here.
Frequency- 2
Content- 4
Design- 2
Interaction- 1
Rankings
- Alexa- 80,633 (ww), 33,847 (US)
- Compete- 259,458
- Google- 6
- Opensite Explorer: 86
Adam Goldstein, Sea Views, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Royal Caribbean has taken well to social media. The company Facebook page is very active with updates that often garner thousands of likes, comments and shares. Goldstein blogs regularly including a popular "Ask Adam" series.
Frequency- 3
Content- 5
Design- 5
Interaction- 5
Rankings
- Alexa- 677,360 (ww), 176,935 (US)
- Compete- 28,107
- Google- 5
- Opensite Explorer- 39
Martha Heller, You and Your CIO Career, Heller Search Associates
Heller's blog features interviews, guest bloggers, book recommendations and business advice. This is a very informative business blog.
Frequency- 1
Content- 4
Design- 3
Interaction- 5
Rankings
- Alexa- 5,707,489
- Compete- nd
- Google- 4
- Opensite Explorer- 29
Penny Herscher, The Grassy Road: A CEO at Work and Play in Silicon Valley, FirstRain
A long time blogger, Herscher, more than others in this list, blends work insights with personal interests.
Frequency- 1
Content- 3
Design- 2
Interaction- 1
Rankings
- Alexa- 8,663,350
- Compete- nd
- Google- 5
- Opensite Explorer- 54
Michael Hyatt, Intentional Leadership, former CEO Thomas Nelson Publishers
The best selling author of Platform built his platform primarily as a result of his blog. He features guest writers, embedded podcasts, and more information than dozens of blogs combined.
Frequency- 7
Content- 5
Design- 4
Interaction- 5
Rankings
- Alexa- 18,016 (ww), 6,549 (US)
- Compete- 41,426
- Google- 5
- Opensite Explorer- 81
Craig Newmark, Craigconnects, founder of Craig's List
Newmark turned over CEO duties a few years back but retains the titles of "Founder" and "Customer Service" rep. His blog is reflective of his self-effacing manner.
Frequency- 2
Content-4
Design- 5
Interaction-1
Rankings
- Alexa- 364,057 (ww), 76,116 (US)
- Compete- 33,892
- Google- 6
- Opensite Explorer- 61
Bill Marriott, Marriott on the Move, Marriott Hotels
Bill Marriott is likely the oldest blogger on this list, yet he consistently posts helpful content. I hope some younger CEOs will follow his lead.
Frequency- 3
Content- 3
Design- 3
Interaction- 1
Rankings
- Alexa- 1,789 (ww), 444 (US)
- Compete- nd
- Google- 7
- Opensite Explorer- 45
Thom Rainer, Thomrainer.com, LifeWay Christian Resources
Disclosure: LifeWay is my employer.
Rainer is not a household name, but the non-profit he heads is the largest of its type in the world. His leadership posts are read by church and business leaders alike.
Frequency- 7
Content- 4
Design- 5
Interaction- 5
Rankings
- Alexa- 527,774 (ww), 93,961 (US)
- Compete- 90,285
- Google- 4
- Opensite Explorer- 48
CEO blogs written by women and racial minorities proved especially hard to find. If you know of any, I would love to see them listed in the comments.