Study: Companies aren’t ready to tweet to investors—yet

Not yet, at least.

The IR field has certainly changed from the old days, according to a report in the Hartford Business Journal. Mailed paper is in the past, and “blast faxes” are becoming a memory. Email drives the process today, but the shift to social media may not come as quickly as it has to other corporate communications disciplines.

There are plenty of signs that corporate IR professionals aren’t ready to make the jump to social media, even if they are exploring the possibility. Jeff Morgan, president and CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), tells the Hartford Business Journal. “There are a lot of companies that are very cautiously looking at using social media but very few that are in the full engagement mode.”

According to a NIRI survey, 77 percent of respondents say they use social media, though mostly for personal use. Of the remainder, 76 percent indicate that they haven’t seen enough demand from investors, and 63 percent are worried about risk.