Study: INSIGHTS ON THE (ANTI) SOCIAL CIO An analysis of social networking and media consumption habits offers a window into the influencers that impact CIOs (August 2015)

•  OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Although CIO participation on social media is somewhat limited on Twitter, the research suggests that interest in Twitter is growing. This presents an opportunity for organizations looking to reach this audience as they embrace the platform.

•  MEDIA STILL MATTERS: Media outlets were a large component of the Twitter influencer ecosystem for the 2014 CIO 100 and dwarfed all other influencers on Twitter on the 2015 list. Media brands matter, and CIOs are paying attention to what they have to say.

•  LINKED IN ISN’T AN AFTERTHOUGHT: LinkedIn tends to be ignored in many social media programs, yet is an important channel followed by CIOs. Organizations looking to reach a CIO audience should identify opportunities to include LinkedIn in social media efforts.

•  DON’T JUST FOLLOW, CONVERSE: Forums like Quora have active participation by people in the industry, but this type of network gives CIOs the opportunity to influence others rather than be influenced by people or companies. Focusing on networks where third-parties can affect decisions and perception, for the purposes of this study Zeno instead turned to other networks where external influence was more directly measurable: Twitter and LinkedIn. However, more substantive conversations

did take place on Quora and LinkedIn Groups like the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Network and the size of these groups is indicative of peer-to-peer influence.

KEY FINDINGS

CIO 100 ON SOCIAL PLATFORMS Top CIOs are expanding their use of LinkedIn: 93 percent of the 2015 CIO 100 list is on the social network, up from 91 percent in 2014. Of that group, 75 percent have 500 or more connections.

93% of CIO 100 List are on LinkedIn

37%

91%

42%

93%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Twitter LinkedIn

2014 2015

TWITTER ECOSYSTEM:

Using Zeno’s proprietary tool, we analyzed the influencers who make up this ecosystem. Defined as users who are followed by members of the 2014 CIO 100 list, we segmented this group based on their role within the technology and business landscape. The members of the 2014 CIO 100 primarily used Twitter to connect with other IT professionals, followed closely by connecting with media and industry thought leaders. In 2015, this evolved to greater use of social for media.

Other CIOs 25%

Media Outlets 16%

Thought Leaders

16% Industry Orgs

3%

Executives 12%

Journalists 9%

IT Executives 7%

Vendors 6%

Analysts 4%

Analyst Firms 2%

2014: CONNECTING WITH PEERS

Other CIOs 11%

Media Outlets 40%

Thought Leaders

15%

Industry Orgs 8%

Executives 7%

Journalists 2%

IT Executives 3%

Vendors 7%

Analysts 1%

Analyst Firms 3%

VCs 3%

2015: THE RISE OF MEDIA

MEDIA BRANDS MATTER It’s no surprise that top business and tech journalists have the attention of CIOs, but the degree of their influence is noteworthy. The biggest change in the rankings of media brands from 2014 to 2015 was a shift from CIO-focused publications to more mainstream technology and business publications.

2015 2014

1 6

2 7

3 8

4 9

5 10

1 6

2 7

3 8

4 9

5 10

CIO Online / CIO.com

CIO Magazine

CIO Online / CIO.com

CIO Magazine

Global CIO

1 Maryfran Johnson, CIO Magazine @MaryfranJohnson

JOURNALISTS WITH INFLUENCE Top CIOs still pay attention to tech journalists, especially those who cover issues that most impact C-level IT leaders. Maryfran Johnson, Editor-in-Chief of CIO magazine held the top spot as most influential journalist on Twitter for both the 2014 and 2015 CIO 100 lists. CIO Online reporter Lauren Brousell also made both lists.

2 Lauren Brousell, CIO Online @LBrousell

3 Clint Boulton, CIO.com @ClintBoulton

4 Joel Schectman, Wall Street Journal @Joel_Schechtman

1 Maryfran Johnson, CIO Magazine @MaryfranJohnson

2 Walt Mossberg, Re/code @WaltMossberg

3 Lauren Brousell, CIO Online @LBrousell

4 Anderson Cooper, CNN @AndersonCooper

2015 2014

LINKEDIN: THE PREFERRED PLATFORM Beyond their individual connections, CIOs are leveraging LinkedIn as a platform for gathering information and new ideas on technology, business and the world at large. CIOs on both lists followed a substantial number of LinkedIn Influencers that use the community as an idea exchange.

2015 2014

1 Richard Branson 6 Meg

Whitman

2 Jack Welch 7 Guy Kawasaki

3 Michael Dell 8 Deepak Chopra MD

4 Bill Gates 9 Mark Hurd

5 Jeff Weiner 10 Francisco D’Souza

1 Michael Dell 6 Don Tapscott

2 Jack Welch 7 Richard Branson

3 Spencer Ante 8 Arianna Huffington

4 Meg Whitman 9 Bill Gates

5 Guy Kawasaki 10 Dr. Hossein Eslambolchi

CIO LINKEDIN ECOSYSTEM: NOT JUST A DIGITAL ROLODEX With over 90 percent usage by both the 2014 and 2015 lists, LinkedIn is by far the dominant social media platform for CIOs. One of the big surprises of the study is that CIOs primarily followed only verified LinkedInfluencer. In addition to tech luminaries and business leaders, CIOs tended to follow influential authors on LinkedIn. Interestingly, CIOs also followed venture capitalists to a much greater degree on LinkedIn than on Twitter.

Non-Tech Business

Executives 33%

Tech Business

Executives 17% Author

14%

Thought Leader

11%

VCs 10%

Journalist 5%

Educator 5%

Non-Profit Executive

2%

Government Leader

2%

Analyst 1%

2014 2015

Non-Tech Business

Executives 26%

Tech Business Executives

19%

Author 13%

Thought Leader

12%

VCs 9%

Journalist 12%

Educator 2%

Non-Profit Executive

2%

Government Leader

2%

Analyst 3%

Believers in the fearless pursuit of the unexpected, the award-winning Zeno Group operates as one firm across 24 global offices, including Silicon Valley, New York, Chicago, Santa Monica, Dallas, Toronto, London, Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta and Singapore. Zeno is an unprecedented three-time winner of the PR Week U.S. Mid-Size Agency of the Year, Holmes Report US Creative Agency of the Year and 2013 Holmes Report Consumer Agency of the Year. The firm’s practice areas include technology, consumer, health, and corporate, all supported by planning, digital engagement and media.

Clients include Anheuser-Busch, Expedia Media Solutions, Netflix, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Hortonworks, Kia Motors America, Intel Security, Micron Technology, Inc., Plex Systems, Seattle’s Best Coffee and TiVo. Zeno Group is a member of the Daniel J. Edelman Company.

Please visit us at zenogroup.com, like us on Facebook, or follow us @zenogroup and on LinkedIn.

ABOUT ZENO GROUP

Zeno Group examined the social media presence and engagement of the 2014 and 2015 CIO 100 Lists on Twitter and LinkedIn. We created a proprietary tool to collect and analyze the Twitter users that are followed by the CIO 100. Data was collected from 2014 through 2015. CIO 100 List members with private Twitter accounts were excluded from this analysis. What about Facebook? Facebook recently introduced changes to drive greater business and media adoption of the platform. With Instant Articles, a WhatsApp integration and improved search functionality, it’s clear that Facebook hopes to become a destination for business. However, while media consumption by CIOs may happen on Facebook, algorithms and privacy options make it more difficult to accurately measure the influence that media or other entities may have. It was not practical to include Facebook in the study due to these constraints. Dan Sorensen and Kriselle Laran led the research with assistance from Katie Wood Znameroski and Risa Jensen.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Zeno Group is a global, integrated communications agency, born from PR,

that pursues the unexpected to turn heads and win hearts.

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DAN SORENSEN Zeno Group Senior Account Supervisor 650-801-0944 twitter.com/DSorensen linkedin.com/in/dansorensenpr dan.sorensen@zenogroup.com

KRISELLE LARAN Zeno Group Vice President, Digital 650-315-4314 twitter.com/krisellelaran linkedin.com/in/krisellelaran kriselle.laran@zenogroup.com

THANK YOU!

TODD IRWIN Zeno Group Managing Director, California Managing Director, Technology twitter.com/todd_irwin linkedin.com/in/toddirwin1 todd.irwin@zenogroup.com