As Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House, his Twitter following continues to climb.
Since election night, the U.S. president-elect has added nearly 2.5 million followers, bumping his total to more than 15 million. In fact, Trump’s account has increased nearly 500 per cent since he announced his presidential bid in June of 2015 (he had 2.6 million followers at the time).
“It’s a great form of communication,” Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes in his first television interview following the election. “I’m not saying I love it, but it does get the word out. When you give me a bad story or when you give me an inaccurate story…I have a method of fighting back.”
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a frequent tweeter, but the country’s business leaders are largely absent from the platform.
“I think a lot of the chief executives have been reluctant to embrace social platforms because they have been fearful about risk,” says Bob Pickard, a principal with social public relations firm Signal Leadership Communication. “There has been a lack of corporate courage.”
A recent Signal study, conducted by Ryerson University’s Infoscape Research Lab, found that only seven of Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs have Twitter accounts. BlackBerry CEO John Chen stands out as a frequent user, but most of the accounts are far from active.
“Until the advent of Trump, most hadn’t realized the incredible power of the platform to convey communication and drive the news cycle,” according to Pickard. “And now they see political leaders using social media and achieving successful outcomes…in the case of Trump, winning the election.”
Twitter, meanwhile, has been taking steps to encourage more use on its platform. This week, it rolled out new tools to more effectively address user abuse.
Here's a look at some of the Canadian CEOs who are on Twitter:
BlackBerry CEO John Chen (@JohnChen)
Sun Life Financial CEO Dean Connor (@DeanAConnor)
Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain (@MichaelHMcCain)
Crescent Point Energy CEO Scott Saxberg (@YSaxberg)
Incoming Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale (@natale_joe)
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