Back in 1932 a trio of song writers penned what has become a classic, “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies Sing,” wrote what has become a song for the ages.  If you are not familiar here is the opening lyrics and a link to a YouTube rendition by Jay Wilbur & his Metropole Players.

Let's all sing like the birdies sing,
Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet.
Let's all sing like the birdies sing,
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.
Let's all warble like nightingales,
Give your throat a treat.
Take your time from the birds,
Now you all know the words,
Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet.

Before you think I have wandered off the ranch without a compass or GPS device, the reason for making note is that European-based Augure, a provider of influence marketing software to public relations professionals, is out with a study that shows that most of the CEOs of the tech-heavy NASDAQ stock exchange don’t use social media.   

Let’s go directly to a tale of the CEOs.  The infographic says it all.

There is no real surprise as to who ranks as the top online influencers.  What is a bit surprising is that LinkedIn is the platform of choice for those who are active on social media, although it is a good vehicle for communicating with other executives and allows for a clean work-centric identity.  

Where the surprises do stand out are in regards to who does not avail themselves of any discernible social outlet.  Call them “shy and retiring” (pardon the pun on the retiring reference), or merely disinclined for a variety of unknown and possibly personal as well as professional reasons, “The Striking Cases” list is indeed very striking.  In fact, this seems to be an proof case for the cobbler’s (shoe maker’s) children not having any shoes. Given, the legions of people that have responsibility for all aspects of brand/reputation management, one would have thought that virtually any CEO these days would at a minimum have somebody serving as their social mouth piece even if they themselves were not so inclined.

I fully understand there may be reticence on the part of CEOs from being overly social given they are at the helm of public companies and therefore anything they say can and usually will be held against them. However, the silent treatment in our age of engagement, particularly from companies that are social enablers strikes a discordant tone.

These birdies might wish to tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet. There may not be a correlation between stock performance and sociability but the medium as long predicted has become the message and this appears to be a case where silence is not golden.