Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh Could Teach Ford CEO Alan Mulally a Few Things About Twitter

Rachael,

Thanks for your suggestions. I know Tony and the story behind the corporate culture at Zappos. Even for such a nimble organization, the change didn't occur overnight. You can imagine that the culture at Ford is a little different, and as much as I admire what Tony has done, I don't think it would be wise for Alan Mulally to yell at his breakfast on Twitter.

Twitter is an interesting tool because it's so simple yet can be used in a variety of ways. One way that Zappos uses Twitter as a way for employees to keep in touch with each other, like a group IM for internal communications. Futhermore, Tony is very clear on what Zappos is: not an online shoe company, but a customer service company. That makes a huge difference and Twitter easily comes into play there.

We're using Twitter for a variety of things at Ford as well, both on the product side and the corporate side, as well as engaging with customers every day. You can find us at:
@Ford http://twitter.com/Ford
@FordDriveGreen http://twitter.com/FordDriveGreen
@FordCustService http://twitter.com/FordCustService
@FordFiesta http://twitter.com/FordFiesta
@FordMustang http://twitter.com/FordMustang
@FordTrucks http://twitter.com/FordTrucks

And of course, I'm out there every day as well:
@ScottMonty http://twitter.com/ScottMonty

I know Twitter is new to a lot of people. Ford has been using it since July of 2008, but we're always looking for ways to improve. Thanks for your perspective.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
http://thefordstory.com

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response, Scott. And yes, you're right about the corporate culture at Ford being different than Zappos.com. I also wouldn't expect Alan Mulally to yell at his breakfast burrito. But I think my colleague David Kiley has a point when he says that Alan Mulally is "hailed as the only CEO in Detroit who knows what he is doing, while GM and Chrysler flirt with bankruptcy."

This is an extraordinary time in the auto industry and I think many people would love the opportunity to get to know Alan Mulally a little better, 140 characters at a time.

I am the CEO of a consultancy called Knowledge Infusion based in Minneapolis. I will be traveling to Romania and throughout the world over the next month delivering HR and Web 2.0/social networking information to various conferences and thought leaders.

Look forward to talking soon

Rachel - per your tweet requesting tweeting CEOs - Cloudera CEO Mike Olsen tweets at http://twitter.com/mikeolson

Funambol CEO Fabrizio Capobianco tweets at http://twitter.com/fabricapo

Hi Rachael, try following Andi Gutmans. CEO of Zend Technologies.

http://twitter.com/andigutmans

I do. www.twitter.com/paglo

Paglo - On-demand IT management

My CEO, Steve Schuster, regularly tweets at www.twitter.com/rainierco. He's a consistent early adopter, and has been tweeting since January 2008.

Rachael, great idea to compare CEO Twitters. You should check out Michael Kempner (username mkempner), Founder and CEO of MWW Group.

Dane Atkinson
Squarespace CEO
Accomplished entrepreneur in the digital media and advertising space
http://twitter.com/daneatkinson

Rachael - Agreeing with your thoughts on Zappo.com's CEO personality and realness on Twitter - check out BumpTop CEO Anand Argawala @anandx

Love this idea of CEOs who tweet. You may want to check out CEO of Carbonetworks, Michael Meehan. He's got a nice mix of personal thoughts, insights about his industry and what's going on in the world.

Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange (open source alternative to Microsoft Exchange) tweets at http://twitter.com/rafbuff

Great story idea! I'll selfishly propose Frank Addante, CEO of the Rubicon Project (@frankaddante). Frank is well respected in the tech/start-up community. Rubicon is his 6th co and he's only 32. The next few weeks he'll be traveling abroad, further building out our Int'l expansion plans. The company all follows him on twitter and we're quite the active Yammer'ers in-house as well. Look forward to reading what you come up with!

Fabulous!

@todaysmama

Rachael Herrscher, CEO of TodaysMama.com

Rachael was just named one of the Top 30 Women to Watch in Tech by Utah Business Magazine, and is a valued speaker on marketing to Moms and how women use technology and social media.

TodaysMama.com is an online community for Moms with 27 local market Web sites. The company recently launched TodaysMama Connect, a niche Twitter site for Moms.

www.todaysmama.com/connect

Mike has launched, grown and sold 4 successful companies. Currently he's CEO of Buddy Media--who plans, builds, promotes and monitors social media strategies that include "app-vertising" campaigns, public profile pages, iphone apps...and more http://www.twitter.com/lazerow.

Dear Racheal,

Please follow Vinny Lingham, CEO of Yola, a free Website builder. His handle is @VinnyLingham.

He's recently named one of the World Economic Forum 2009 Young Global Leaders alongside a number of Silicon Valley leaders including Mark Zuckerburg, Chad Hurley and Kevin Rose.

Fun project!

Follow Mike Lazerow--he's a seasoned entrepreneur who's launched, grown and sold four companies at http://www.twitter.com/lazerow. Currently, Mike's CEO of Buddy Media who plans, builds, promotes and monitors social media strategies that include "app-vertising" campaigns, public profile pages, widgets and iPhone apps.

Rajeev Singh

http://twitter.com/rsingh68

President and COO of Concur, a provider of on-demand employee spend management solutions (www.concur.com)

Offers insight into his personal life, while also bringing in elements of the company’s activity and industry perspective.

@rsingh68

Hi Rachel,

I'd recommend following Steve Ives (@sives), CEO of Taptu, who has developed a great mobile search App for the iPhone!

Rachel - check out James Gardner, co-founder and CEO of CreateThe Group. http://twitter.com/jgardnernyc

David Childers - http://twitter.com/EthicsPointCEO.

The use of social media in Compliance and Ethics is much less developed than in other segments. David has not only embraced it, but has been asked to speak at a number of industry on the topic.

Check out Vinny Lingham -- @VinnyLingham

Vinny is CEO of Yola and has received numerous accolades for his work in South Africa and the US. Twitter is just one way we keep up with him during his travels!!

J.R. Johnson, Founder and CEO of Lunch.com - @JRLunch

Lunch is a new online community that cuts through the clutter to help people share and discover the most relevant information, opinions and ideas.