Mark Fidelman’s striking Forbes survey of CIOs and their near-consensus non-engagement with social media has set the cat among the pigeons. At least on Twitter. Question is whether anyone in the C-suite cares. If the CIO thinks this stuff we do is for teens, looks like all those other Cs are off the hook.

His numbers are so bad they are literally hard to believe. 25 out of 250 are on Twitter. 4 have blogs. Even LinkedIn does not much appeal. He didn’t poll on Facebook. I suspect more are engaged there and it’s where they keep track of their kids. And that’s one of the problems of Facebook – it has uber-branded social as a time-wasting, pic-posting alternative reality where if you have time, inclination, grandchildren, pets, you may want to hang.

Point is: only by immersion in markets do Cs of any description have a clue as to how to do their jobs in a manner that is strategic, focused on the edge where new products and new business lie, focused on change, focused on (ahem) building value.

It’s becoming a social and professional embarrassment to meet people who not only aren’t engaged on Twitter (especially) but who giggle or roll their eyeballs or start stuttering about the fact they do use Facebook when you raise the subject.

Guys: Social is the leading edge of culture and business; exponential change, driven by Moore’s Law and other factors, is the context for every decision – even in old economy industries; and – hear this – social is like saying sorry. You can’t have someone do it for you.

So, listen up, smart CEOs, Boards, Shareholders, and anyone else concerned about building long-term value in markets changing at warp speed: Are you or have you ever been on Twitter? should be a core question in pre-qualifying executive leaders. And let’s get rid of the deadwood. There are 225 juicy CIO slots waiting to be filled.

Mark Fidelman – Socialized and Mobilized – Forbes.