Introduction To Study On Social Media Usage Amongst FTSE 100 Companies

Posted on 22. Feb, 2008 by Ross Enston in Social Media Strategies

This study of social media usage amongst FTSE 100 companies is the first of its kind and will hopefully form a benchmark for assessing the impact of the digital revolution on online marketing and consumer engagement in the UK.

According to the Guardian.co.uk Business Glossary:
“The FTSE 100 index comprises the 100 most highly capitalised blue chip companies on the London Stock Exchange, representing approximately 81% of the UK market.”

Over time, the table below will grow to include information about all 100+ companies in the FTSE 100 index, providing an at-a-glance look at how well these multinational corporations are engaging the UK’s digitally savvy consumer. Initially devised and written by company founder, Chi-chi Ekweozor, the study is now maintained by Ross Enston.

Click on the company name to read a detailed analysis of its usage of social media.

Methodology
Each company in the FTSE 100 index was reviewed on its usage of such social media tools as RSS feeds*, blogs, online video, podcasts and social media platforms like Flickr and Facebook on its main website and on occasion, on websites of well-known subsidiary companies.

*RSS feeds are a simple way of delivering fresh versions of a website’s content to online readers automatically.

The FTSE 100 list this study is derived from can be found on Yahoo! Finance’s FTSE 100 page.

Here’s the table so far:

Social Media Usage amongst FTSE 100 companies

FTSE 100 Company	RSS	Podcast	Blog	Online Video	Audio	Facebook, Flickr, etc
Anglo American	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Associated British Foods	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
African Barrick Gold	No	No	No	No	No	No
Admiral Group	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Aggreko	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Alliance & Leicester	No	No	No	No	No	No
Alliance Trust	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
AMEC	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Amlin	No	No	No	No	No	No
Antofagasta	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Aviva	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
AstraZeneca	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
BAE Systems	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Barclays	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
British American Tobacco	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
British Airways	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
BG Group	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
British Energy	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
British Land	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
BHP Billiton	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Bunzl	No	No	No	No	No	No
BP	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Burberry	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
BSkyB Group	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BT Group	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Cadbury ADR	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Carnival	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Centrica	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Cairn Energy	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No

………………

Over time this should grow to reflect the real FTSE 100 Index.

Image credit: Study logo created using a modified graphic from 10kmarshmallows.com

Tags: Admiral Group, Aggreko, Alliance & Leicester, AMEC, Amlin, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Associated British Foods, AstraZeneca, Aviva, BAE Systems, Barclays, BG Group, British Airways, British American Tobacco, British Energy, British Land, Burberry, Facebook, Flickr, FTSE 100, guardian.co.uk Business Glossary, podcast, RSS, social media, social media strategy, UK

64 Responses to “Introduction To Study On Social Media Usage Amongst FTSE 100 Companies”

LMS 28 August 2009 at 6:25 pm #

Good stuff — thanks! In order to reach enlightenment and productivity, we are going to need to see even more integration of all these apps and sites. Giving the user the capability to seamlessly integrate and use these resources thereby enhancing their lives –in a manner they deem valuable– will ensure both continued usage and continued growth.
Chi-chi Ekweozor 4 September 2009 at 5:53 pm #

@LMS:

You do have a point there. As these services become more mainstream, interoperability will become paramount.

Thanks for your comment.
Simon Freeman 7 September 2009 at 3:38 pm #

This is fascinating stuff. My particular area of interest is corporate communications and the ways that companies interact with their stakeholders and shareholders through social media. In fact in many cases companies have still not grasped the need to report their mid- and end-of-year results using HTML; there are still a huge number posting a PDF online (have a look at http://www.smithspartnership.com/reporting/index.html for more). However anecdotal evidence – based on the interest we’ve had in our SmithsRatings™ report – suggests that corporations are increasingly realising the importance of online and social media communication.

I look forward to seeing how your chart develops over time.

Simon
Chi-chi Ekweozor 8 September 2009 at 4:39 pm #

@Simon Freeman:
Thanks for your excellent comment.

Yes, there does appear to be a seismic shift going on with corporate communications and marketing realising the importance of using social media.

I’ve checked out your website and was surprised to find out that there was such a thing as online annual reports!

The next step: make them ‘shareable’ on social networks

Keep up the good work.
Ebba Boström 20 March 2010 at 8:18 am #

Bra blogg, hittade den på DMOZ. Har gjort ett bokmärke och återkommer.
Krissy 19 April 2010 at 7:42 pm #

The market definitly looks to be coming back but what happened came at a good time for me, I have only been involved in this for about 10 years and I had never experianced a slum, I was starting to feel invicible. No one is!
Chi-chi Ekweozor 20 April 2010 at 5:27 pm #

@Krissy:

Thanks for your comment.
Susan Bradley 9 June 2010 at 9:40 pm #

Do you have any further updates on these findings and what has changed since 2008?
Chi-chi Ekweozor 24 June 2010 at 8:44 am #

@Susan Bradley:

Thanks for your comment, apologies for the delay in approving it and responding.

I’m pleased to let you know the Introduction To Study On Social Media Usage Amongst FTSE 100 Companies study is resuming in July. The first blog post should be out next week.

We’ll be covering what’s happening now, with a view to comment on what has changed since 2008.