CEOs of the year on Twitter
Love them or hate them, CEOs like Elon Musk and Tim Cook leave their marks on the world.
Their influence can be measured by groundbreaking feats — the successful launch and landing of a SpaceX rocket — and incredible charitable efforts — donating more than $28 billion for education and health care.
However, CrowdTangle, a social media analytics firm, calculates influence a bit differently. The company reviewed the top 150 CEOs who used Twitter this year and determined who had the most engagement with social media users.
Here are the Top 10 most influential CEOs on Twitter for 2015, based on the likes and retweets they received.
— By CNBC.com's Lyanne Alfaro and Sarah Whitten
Posted Dec. 31, 2015
10. Marc Benioff
CEO Marc Benioff may be the mastermind behind "the cloud," but the Salesforce exec has stressed that his company is more than just a server.
"The cloud is about technology, and you know this is transient," Benioff told Jim Cramer back in September. "The technology we are talking about today will be obsolete in three, four, five years from now. It will be all new technology."
During 2015, Benioff received 120,260 likes and retweets from Twitter users and sent out an average of two tweets every day.
9. Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch may be one of the oldest CEOs in the S&P 500, but that doesn't mean he isn't a social media master.
The global media mogul stepped down from his position as CEO of 21st Century Fox earlier this year — a position that he ceded to his son, James Murdoch — but he still remains the executive chairman of News Corp.
Murdoch received 129,215 retweets and likes last year and tweeted an average of once per day.
8. Anand Mahindra
With a net worth of more than $1.2 billion, Anand Mahindra is one of the richest people in India, according to Forbes.
The chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, an automobile manufacturing company with interests involving aerospace, received 172,459 retweets and likes in 2015.
Mahindra tweeted an average of three times a day, according to CrowdTangle.
7. Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and Square, had a busy 2015.
He was named interim CEO of Twitter earlier in the year and took the mantle permanently in October.
His mobile payment company went public in November. Shares surged 45 percent, garnering Dorsey around $300 million.
Dorsey's engagement on Twitter hit 199,523 likes and retweets in 2015. He tweeted twice a day, on average.
6. Mark Cuban
Perhaps one of the most vocal entrepreneurs on this list, Mark Cuban likes to stay on top of social trends.
So, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks created Cyber Dust, a disappearing text and messaging app, where he shares news and his thoughts on what's happening around in the world.
On Twitter, Cuban tweets around once per day and has received more than 347,000 retweets and likes this year alone.
5. Tim Cook
Tim Cook's tweets my be sparse — he averages one tweet every four days — but the Apple CEO garnered almost 500,000 retweets and likes this year.
Cook commemorated co-founder Steve Jobs earlier this year with a post: "Remembering Steve, who would have turned 60 today. 'The only way to do great work is to love what you do.'"
4. John Legere
John Legere, the candid CEO of T-Mobile, is an avid user of Twitter. He averages 11 tweets per day and received more than 529,000 retweets and likes in the last year.
Legere famously said that he took T-Mobile's customer base to 57 million from 33 million since becoming CEO of the company.
3. Elon Musk
Elon Musk has had an eventful year. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has furthered the development of ecofriendly vehicles and self-driving cars and, even, successfully launched and landed a rocket.
He garnered 952,659 retweets and likes on Twitter despite only tweeting an average of once every two days.
2. Bill Gates
Bill Gates' tenure as CEO and chairman of Microsoft may be over, but the entrepreneur is still keeping busy.
Gates has pledged to give billions through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the help of his wife and other philanthropists, including Warren Buffett.
The organization works to alleviate global social problems such as hunger, poverty and HIV.
On average, he tweets once a day, but has earned more than 1.1 million retweets and likes in 2015.
1. Richard Branson
Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, tweets eight times a day, on average and has garnered more than 1.7 million likes and retweets on Twitter this year.
Branson joined the social media platform in 2007 and has more than 7 million followers.