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BusinessWeek includes Carbonetworks CEO in Top Twitterers worth following

5 CEO Twitterers Worth Following

What makes people want to follow a CEO on Twitter? That can be a tough question to answer. Two weeks ago, I asked readers to nominate CEOs worth following on Twitter with the idea that I would figure out which ones I would continue following after a week. Readers sent in suggestions for twenty CEO Twitterers here and I followed all of them. The funny thing about Twitter is that while you can learn a lot about someone over a long period of time, it’s relatively difficult to get a good picture of someone in just seven days. After two weeks, I’ve decided that I will continue to follow all of these CEOs but some Twitter streams stood out for different reasons. Here are some notable ones:

1. Michael Meehan, CEO, Carbonetworks
Meehan's Twitter stream is compelling because he's not afraid to share his opinions and anybody who follows him will actually learn something about carbon management. Still, it would be nice to see a few personal tweets sprinkled here and there about his hobbies or weekend activities.

2. Mike Olson, CEO, Cloudera
I enjoy Olson's tweets because he's observant and often funny, as in this tweet: "Taking a week's worth of sinfulness down to the gym for some discipline. Ignore any screaming you hear." After reading Olson's mostly-personal tweets for awhile, though, I began to wonder what, exactly, his company was all about. Olson might consider linking to Cloudera's corporate Twitter account in his bio.

3. Frank Addante, CEO, The Rubicon Project
Addante's recent business trip to Germany provided fodder for his tweets over the last week. Instead of just saying that he was in Montabaur, Germany, he actually gave it some color by describing high-speed taxi trips and the small castle where he stayed. Unfortunately, because Twitter's photos are so small, it's nearly impossible to see Addante in the photo he posted. It would be nice to put a face with the name.

4. Rachael Herrscher, Founder, Today'sMama.com
Herrscher has built up a sizeable following on Twitter and many of them seem to be moms who read her online publication. Herrscher does a great job engaging with people through Twitter. If you're using Twitter as a one-way method of communication and not striking up conversations with others, you're missing half the fun.

5. Dane Atkinson, CEO, Squarespace
On May 3rd, Atkinson's Web hosting company experienced some technical issues due to an external problem. Atkinson gets high marks for responding to customer questions via Twitter within minutes, even on a Sunday. One customer even tweeted about Squarespace's great technical support. Unfortunately, it's difficult to read Atkinson's bio because of the black background on his Twitter page & it would be nice to see a photo of him as well.

Also, check out BusinessWeek's slide show of CEOs on Twitter by my colleagues Douglas MacMillan and Rebecca Reisner.