From Virgin's Richard Branson to Gujarat CEO Narendra Modi, leaders have been, for some time now, using social media as way to reach out to their core constituency. In the past week, two high-profile business leaders saw an opportunity to counter perceptions created by two reports in The Economic Times by tweeting to their legion of wide-eyed followers.
In response to a feature examining Mahindra & Mahindra's attempt to be an end-to-end mobility solutions provider - from two wheelers to aircraft - vice chairman & managing director Anand Mahindra had this quip on Twitter: "ET story asks whether M&M should stick to SUVs. Forgot to tell them when I joined M&M management consultants advised we stick to tractors!"
A few days later, it was the turn of UB group chairman to voice his discontent about an ET story that reported auditors had raised doubts about Kingfisher Airlines' ability to do business over the longer term. "Kingfisher being slammed by media based on an unknown investment analyst's report. He covers telecom and is an ex-employee of The Economic Times," thundered Mallya, referring to the analyst with the Canada-headquartered Veritas Investment Research who came out with scathing report on Kingfisher Airlines.
Cleary, social media is proving to be a fitting platform for business CEOs to put forth their point of view on news and views carried in the more traditional medium of publishing-and to question that view if it is potentially damaging to the company and the CEO's image. Followers of these leaders have an opportunity to respond, which in term allows the head honchos to gauge how successful they have been at countering perception created through such newspaper reports. That's social media with its interactive vigour working at its best. More power to the CEO-and to ET!
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