When Jason Marker, the new chief executive of the company that owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, met with several of his marketing executives this week, one of his first requests was for screens to be installed in the company’s headquarters to display real-time social media conversations about its brands.

It is the sort of setup that already exists at the advertising agencies representing Mr. Marker’s company, CKE Restaurants, and that the company has built internally for events like the Super Bowl, said Brandon LaChance, the director of advertising and digital marketing for the chains, who was at the meeting. But now, he added, that information will be available daily to the whole company, which is based in Franklin, Tenn.

“In most organizations, supply chain, H.R., legal or whatever it is — they’re not exposed to the same kind of stuff as marketing because it’s not traditionally in their area of responsibility,” Mr. LaChance said, comparing the news flow on such screens to the humming activity of stock quotations, chyrons and headline tickers on CNBC. Now, he said, “anyone can take a look at that and see how what they do impacts the business.”

The request by Mr. Marker, just days into his new role, underscores how seriously the highest levels of corporations are taking social media, which has provided brands with unprecedented access to consumers while exposing them to new risks. The perils were on full display this month as United Airlines and its chief executive dealt with the catastrophic fallout from a video showing a paying passenger being violently dragged off a flight on Sunday, and as Pepsi was castigated for a tone-deaf commercial that invoked imagery from the Black Lives Matter movement.