CorpComms Magazine

Over three quarters of FTSE 100 companies lack basic social media tools such as a blog or an RSS feed, according to a new survey by UK PR company Furlong.

Such oversights may be weakening relations with stakeholders and potential investors and jeopardising share price.

The big winners on the London Stock Exchange are better placed with Twitter, with 23 per cent operating an account on the microblogging site. But the study suggests that the lack of an overarching social media strategy means they often are unclear how best to use their feed.

LinkedIn is recognised as the most important networking tool, but none of the firms link profiles to pages on their corporate site.

The three companies best exploiting combined corporate blog and Twitter usage were cruise line operator Carnival, advertising firm WPP, and domestic consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser.

The study identified three key factors behind the slow adoption of social media tools on the part of many FTSE 100 companies - the skepticism of senior management as to their merits, a lack of quantifiable data demonstrating their benefit and insufficient manpower and resources to develop and execute a social media strategy.

Ross Furlong, chief executive officer of Furlong PR, highlighted the danger of leaving social media tools unmanned by company delegates. 'The problem is that if you're not in there swinging the bat for your company, somebody else will do it for you and then you lose control of what's being said.'

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