25 Top social CIOs. How much are they really so? LinkedIn analysis (2).

So here we go! 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.

Let’s 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 don’t (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.

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.

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.

Taking into consideration all above, what do you think? Do those LinkedIn profiles meet reasonable expectations for the top Social CIOs?

Photograph references:
“Man with Laptop” image courtesy of hyena reality / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
“Businessman Sending Message” image courtesy of FrameAngel / FreeDigitalPhotos.net