Tweeting the News

Author

Ted Merz
September 30, 2024

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Companies make announcements every day. But few do it like OpenAI.

The creator of ChatGPT last week announced the departure of three top executives: CTO Mira Murati; head of research Bob McGrew and research leader Barret Zoph. 

It remains unclear why they left, particularly coming as the company was embarking on a massive fundraising initiative.

But what is clear is that how the announcement was made represents a sea change in corporate communications.

And it's one with implications for other companies, organizations, CEOs, PR  departments, and even the news media. 

The news is that the news was not announced by press release.

The standard playbook for decades has been to distribute important information via press releases on PR Newswire or Business Wire. 

Virtually every company does it.

Instead, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reposted on social media verbatim an email he had sent employees.

It's effective because the internal and external messaging is the same. And because it positions him as fully in charge of the situation.

The news media wrote the story based on the tweet. They quoted him, not “the company.”

Why is this happening?

CEOs are going direct with communication for everything from new hires to product releases because it gives them more control and it's more credible.

It's a gradual but secular shift in corporate communications away from the institution and toward the individual, usually the CEO.

Sam Altman speaks for OpenAI. Mark Zuckerberg is the face of Meta. Tim Cook represents Apple. Elon Musk communicates for Tesla.

This has accelerated in the last few years with the emergence of social media as a distribution channel. It's particularly pronounced in tech.

There are opportunities here and there are challenges.

For the news media, a world of tweeted announcements makes it harder to follow and manage. 

For companies, it is a chance to tell stories independent of the media.

For CEOs, it's a chance to more directly embody the narrative. 

But to do that…

CEOs have to build followings.

And to grow followings they need to publish engaging content.

So far, few have been willing to do that.

As I remind my clients, social media followers cannot be bought, they have to be earned.

The departure of several top executives suddenly at OpenAI is a classic crisis comms moment.

One advantage Altman enjoyed was that he was ready. 

Writing online for almost twenty years he had:

-Developed his voice

-Established his credibility 

-Built a large, passionate following

He was also able to communicate directly without his comms team if necessary.

Very few other CEOs could do what Sam Altman did last week. 

The question is whether they will be ready when their moment comes.

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