25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so?

LinkedIn analysis
DATE 2014-01-27
IT CIO - Software - Transformational Projects Program & Project Management

Table of Contents

Contents
Document Control ___________________________________________________________ 1 Executive Summary __________________________________________________________ 2 Introduction and background ___________________________________________________ 4 What characteristics make a good social CIO? _____________________________________ 6 Analysis execution and findings _________________________________________________ 7 Graphical summary of findings_________________________________________________ 10 The Acid Test & Conclusion ___________________________________________________ 15 References ________________________________________________________________ 16 About the Author ___________________________________________________________ 17

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Document Control
Document History
Revision Date
20th Feb 2014

Version
1.0

Author
Jos Jimnez Fernndez-Mazarambroz

Description
Initial version

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Executive Summary
Purpose and goal
Starting from the list of 25 Top Social CIOs to find out how much those are really by analyzing their LinkedIn profiles.

Method
Identify a set of characteristics to define the socialness of those CIOs that can be quickly reviewed and gathered by LinkedIn profile inspection.

Scope
The 27 CIOs (25 top + 2 special mentions) present on the list the list 25 Top Social CIOs that is the result of a research study performed in 2012 by Harmon.ie.

Main Findings
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Four (15%) have the privacy feature enabled Eleven (41%) have their connection info appropriately populated to directly connect Sixteen (59%) have no contact info to be directly reached Twenty-four (89%) personal picture in place. Just three (11%) have no photo Twenty-one (78%) professional line NON-recommended pattern Twenty not customized URLs (74%). Just seven (26%) changed the default Just one (4%) has something visual in place Seven (26%) have not received any recommendation Nine (33%) have not given any recommendation Recommendations given and received average for both is four (4), so the total numbers almost match each other: 103 received versus 106 given by CIOs Intersection is four CIOs (15%) that have not received or given any recommendation Eleven (41%) have Twitter account present in their contact info Number of connections, all but one (96%) have 500+ Six (22%) have a premium account and three (11%) also joined the Open Link network Twelve (44%) have a new job Eleven (41%) accepted the invitation to connect in LinekdIn

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis
Conclusion
The average top Social CIO has from basic to some medium social stuff implemented in LinkedIn, just a few (just about 20%) have advanced features in place. Come on guys! You can be much more social!

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Introduction and background

Having learned about the 25 Top Social CIOs I decided to find out how much those are really by analyzing their LinkedIn profiles and so get a gross clue.

I recently came to know about the list of 25 Top Social CIOs in a Personal Branding training course prepared and taught by @EsmeraldaDazAroca. That list is the result of a research performed in 2012 by Harmon.ie. The activity of 250 Forbes companies CIOs in the most relevant social networks was gathered and then an algorithm developed by @MarkFidelman, who belonged to Harmo.ie leadership at that moment, applied to produce the ranked list. If you are not convinced about the importance of the matter, you should check out this video where Avons CIO, Donagh Herlihy (by the way, one of those 25 Top Social CIOs), put both relationships and networking among the three top priorities for any CIO.

IBM CIO Study (Herlihy - Avon): The Role of the CIO

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis
One key conclusion about CIOs was:
The most striking finding of our study is that only 10% of the Fortune 250 CIOs are themselves social. The rest, apparently, do not recognize the importance of being social, or are delegating the task to a subordinate. @MarkFidelman also commented the results in Forbes. So far so good. We know these 25 are the top ones in a world of CIOs apparently not very social.

Still, how good are those CIOs about social stuff?

I mean that it is certainly brilliant to be on the top, however, it does not mean you are doing great, just better than the rest below. Therefore, I decided to perform my own (quick and dirty) research by focusing on LinkedIn to get a gross, qualitative and quantitative glimpse of those guys. Here is the outcome.

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

What characteristics make a good social CIO?

Next challenge is to determine characteristics that make a good social CIO that can be reviewed and gathered with a reasonable quick inspection on a LinkedIn page. I identified the following areas:

1-Reachability or how easy to connect.

We can get an overall idea by checking the configuration of that action standard or restricted, i.e., you need to know his or her e-mail address- and connection info populated that would allow you to reach out directly to he or she, for instance an e-mail address or a telephone number.

2-Social friendliness or profile appropriately customized to be easily found and identified.

We can check the photo, the professional line, the URL customization, and the presence of visual info (not just text) to obtain a flavor of this point.

3-Social activity or how much web stuff is in place.

Referenced twitter account and websites, received and given recommendations, and number of connections can give us a good idea.

4-Other non-social points or taking advantage of the effort to look at some other interesting stuff
Such as type of LinkedIn account (Premium or not), and new job compared to the 2012 list.

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Analysis execution and findings

I looked for the LinkedIn profiles of the 25 + 2 CIOs present on the list (the additional 2 are special mentions).

I found them all and this is what I got after close but fast inspection of the info available in their outlines as of January 17th, 2014.

Most top social CIOs were easily reachable (23; 85%) in LinkedIn.
Just four (4; 15%) had enabled the privacy feature and so you need his or her e-mail address to send an invite. Could you directly connect with them in an e-mail or telephone number? The scene changes a lot: just eleven (11; 41%) have their connection information appropriately populated to do so. Sixteen (16; 59%) have no contact info to be directly reached. I think a reasonable expectation for a top Social CIO would be to be easily approachable in the internet. It looks like that is the case just in LinkedIn.

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis
Lets get into CIOs' social friendliness.
Almost all have a personal picture in place (24; 89%). Just three (3; 11%) have no photo. Next, I checked the professional line with the following criteria: mark bad the pattern position / level at company and good any other wording that explain competencies, skills, etc. The result is that a significant majority follows the standard, NON-recommended pattern (21; 78%) as opposite to those who dont (6; 22%). Most top social CIOs have not customized their LinkedIn URL (20; 74%). Just seven (7; 26%) changed the default URL to align it to their personal brand. Almost no one has taken advantage of the LinkedIn visual capabilities to add not just text but also visual info: just one (1; 4%) has something visual in place. I think a reasonable expectation for a top social CIO would be to take into account some basic stuff about profile customization to improve SEO and identification easiness.

Different aspects of CIOs' Social activity offer different findings.

Eleven (11; 41%) have Twitter account present in their contact info. The remaining sixteen (16; 59%) may have twitter account, however, if they do, their LinkedIn profile is not updated with it. Recommendations given and received are a significant measure of this point, I think. The average number for both is four (4), so the total numbers almost match each other (103 received versus 106 given by CIOs). Seven (7; 26%) have received no recommendations and nine (9; 33%) have not given any. The intersection of the previous sets is four CIOs (4; 15%) that have not received or given any. It looks like recommendations is not a very used LinkedIn feature by the top Social CIOs. By the way, is somebody suspicious about the similar figure of received and given references? Regarding the number of connections, all but one (26; 96%) have 500+. I think a reasonable expectation for the top Social CIOs would be to be plenty of activity in the internet and show it on LinkedIn.

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Two additional points about top Social CIOs.

First, the type of LinkedIn account. Six (6; 22%) have a premium one and half of those (3; 11%) also joined the OpenLink network. I think this can be a good indicator of investment because of Social interest. Second, twelve (12; 44%) have a new job, so the top Social CIOs look also good on promoting their professional careers.

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Graphical summary of findings

Area Finding
15%

Four (15%) have the privacy feature enabled

85%

Eleven (41%) have their connection info appropriately populated to directly connect

41% 59%

Sixteen (59%) have no contact info to be directly reached

41% 59%

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

11%

Twenty-four personal picture in place (89%). Just three (11%) have no photo

89%

22%
Twenty-one professional line NON-recommended pattern (78%). Just six (22%) have it customised

78%

26%
Twenty not customised URL (74%). Just seven (26%) changed the default

74%

4%

Just one (4%) has something visual in place

96%

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

26%
Seven (26%) have not received any recommendation

74%

33%
Nine (33%) have not given any recommendation

67%

Recommendations given and received average for both is four (4), so the total numbers almost match each other: 103 received versus 106 given by CIOs

49% 51%

15%

Intersection is four CIOs (15%) that have not received or given any recommendation

85%

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Eleven (41%) have Twitter account present in their contact info

41% 59%

4%

Number of connections, all but one (96%) have 500+

96%

22%
Six (22%) have a premium account

78%

11%

Three (11%) also joined the Open Link network

89%

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

Twelve (44%) have a new job

44% 56%

Eleven (41%) accepted the invitation to connect in LinekdIn

41% 59%

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

The Acid Test & Conclusion

Having said that, I would summarize all above in just one point: I reached out them all (well, just the 23 reachable in LinkedIn), explained that I had learned about them in a Personal Branding training course and so I would like to connect with them in LinkedIn if that were OK with them. Response? So far, just eleven (11; 41%) accepted.

The average top Social CIO has from basic to some medium social stuff implemented in LinkedIn, just a few (just about 20%) have advanced features in place. Come on guys! You can be much more social! Taking into consideration all above, what do you think? Do those LinkedIn profiles meet reasonable expectations for the top Social CIOs?

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

References
25 Top Social CIOs LinkedIn CIOs @MarkFidelman Harmon.ie Personal Branding @EsmeraldaDazAroca Photo, Professional line, URL customization SEO FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Photograph references:
Page 4 "Social Network Business" image courtesy of suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Page 7 Man with Laptop image courtesy of hyena reality / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Page 15 Businessman Sending Message image courtesy of FrameAngel/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis

About the Author

"Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes" (The little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupry).

Jos Jimnez Fernndez-Mazarambroz

Proficient IT Executive. MBS IE Business School. Physics Bachelor UCM
| e: jjfmazarambroz@gmail.com | w: http://about.me/josejimenezfernandezmazarambroz