Women At Davos Forum Increase Their Influence Through Social Media, According To KPMG

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New data from KPMG International shows that women delegates are playing an increasingly prominent role in the public discussion from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.   While about 17% of WEF delegates in Davos are women, they have accounted for more than a third of Davos delegate social media activity.

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Analysis of delegates' Twitter activity, presented by KPMG website www.weflive.com shows that, on day one of the Davos meeting, delegates sent 2,376 tweets, of which 784 were from female attendees (excludes media, who accounted for 1,958 tweets, 45% of total).

KPMG's research also highlighted the growing involvement of the general public in the online debate with Davos delegates with a 31% increase in retweets, showing greater engagement with the discussions emanating from Davos:

Isabelle Allen, KPMG's Global Head of Sales & Markets said, "our analysis shows that Davos is changing and becoming more diverse, and that there is an appetite among the public to take part in these debates.  Delegates are paying attention to this social media activity, and I see a great opportunity for a better informed dialogue at the Meeting."

Women at this year's annual summit actively using social media to communicate their messages to a wider audience beyond Davos include Christine Lagarde (Managing Director, IMF, Twitter: @Lagarde), Helen Clark (former Prime Minister New Zealand, @HelenClarkUNDP) and Dalia Ziada (award-winning Egyptian women's rights advocate - @daliaziada).

While the media delegation to Davos averaged three retweets for every tweet they posted (1,936 tweets to 5,629 retweets), 'Public figures' averaged 17.5 retweets for every tweet they posted (433 tweets to 7,591 retweets), including Mario Monti (78 retweets, 16 replies), Christine Lagarde (89 retweets, 95 replies) and David Cameron (79 retweets, 47 replies) -- demonstrating the power of social media to enable the public and political leaders to engage more directly.

About World Economic Forum Live

World Economic Forum Live (www.weflive.com), presented by KPMG International (Twitter @KPMG), distills in real-time the conversations from delegates to Davos who are using Twitter to share their views. Users can filter tweets based on the type of content (articles, images, video) and delegate type (from media and journalists, to technology leaders, public figures, social entrepreneurs and official WEF tweets) and even search for specific trends, hashtags and keywords. The site features a real-time infographic that presents trending topics from Davos alongside the broader conversation from Twitter users around the globe using #WEF or #Davos in their tweets.

For further information, contact:

David Green
Head of Global Digital Marketing, KPMG International
dcgreen@kpmg.ca 
+1-416-777-8061
+1-416-315-6609 (mobile)

Kent Miller
Communications, KPMG International
ktmiller@kpmg.com 
+1-201-307-8632
+1-908-313-5037 (mobile, at Davos)

Weflive.com
kpmg.com/socialmedia
Twitter: @kpmg

About KPMG
KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 156 countries and have 152,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.