Sun CEO Quits on Twitter

How cool would it be to tell your boss you aren’t comin’ back to work on Twitter? That’s what Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems did.

So the next day he tweets that he wants to write a book about the experience and asking his followers to tell what they want him to write about. He even has a hashtag to get the buzz going. #jonathanbook

There’s a problem.

He has over 10,000 followers but is only following (as of today) 41.  What is he really saying?

“I’m only following 41 cool people and you’re not one of them.”

Is he a “nice guy” to make room for a fresh CEO perspective since his company isn’t thriving in this global financial crisis?  Should a CEO be in touch with the world? What kind of two-way relationship does an executive carry on by only following 41 people when 10,000 expressed interest in him?

He doesn’t want to hear about what you have to say, or what kind of consumer you are. Just about what he should write in his own book to sell copies to the 10,000 who he isn’t following.

How do you not make the same mistake? Twitterverse, ask yourself:

• Are you following back most people ?
• Are you freely  sharing other’s tweets with RT’s?
• Are you giving valuable information about what you are doing, and how you FEEL about what you are doing?
• Are you asking questions?
• Are you commenting on other’s tweets?
• Everyday? Spread throughout the day?

Following the steps above, in just minutes a day, will help nurture global online communities, connect you to prosperity and the pulse of your audience. If you do all of this in good faith for your business, or simply your personal brand, you will never have to step down.

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Brains, common sense, and good business decisions help – but thats another story. This is a social media blog, after all

Tags: blog, Career, ceo quits on twitter, community, engage, hashtag, jonathan schwartz, personal branding, search.twitter.com, social networking, sun microsystems, talk, trust agent, Twitter, word of mouth marketing, wordpress