VIEWS: Sustainability and Social Media – Spotlight on Twitter

I recently got myself a Twitter account (follow me at www.twitter.com/jenniferwoofter) and have been exploring its many uses.  Among my favorites:

  • Sending quick updates: It’s surprisingly fun to sporadically share what I’m doing.  When I’m working from home, it’s a nice break in the day.  When I’m onsite with a  client, it’s a great way to give people a sneak peek into the real-world experiences of sustainability consulting.
  • Following colleagues: You can also choose to follow other people and get their tweets sent to you…this is a slippery slope since the last thing I need is to be inundated with more information.  But for insight into a select few people’s minds, it’s totally worth the 5-10 minutes a day.  Here are a few people I’m following: @amydaugustine, @M_Birkhead, @zappos.
  • Getting up to date information: using Twitter’s built in search function, I can find the most up to date tweets on any subject.  Click here to see what people are saying about “sustainability consulting”. 

And the newest thing I’ve discovered - check out this cool application called TweetVolume, which lets you enter terms and compare their frequency in Twitter.  Here’s one I just did comparing the phrases eco-friendly, sustainability, going green, green audit, and carbon footprint.  It seems that “going green” is the clear winner.

Are you on Twitter?  Should I be following you?  How are you using Twitter to stay on top of sustainability issues?  Tell us in the comments below!