Tweeting CEOs, Opinion Leadership, and the Social Capital of Companies

Abstract

In the internet era, companies must have an online presence. As a result, when companies participate in various discourses in the online public communication spheres, they also participate in the construction of shared meaning. This is especially evident on Twitter because it, being a postmodern public sphere, is more participative than representative. In this article, the strategic use of Twitter by chief executive officers (CEOs) is examined from the postmodern perspective of strategic communication, whereby the ultimate goal of strategic communication in the public sphere is to maintain a healthy reputation of the communicative entity.