A Brief Green Building Guide to Social Media
What would you tell a green building insider interested in social media and web 2.0?
I recently had to answer this question, and I thought my answer might be helpful to some Green Building Law Update readers. I decided to keep it simple. For me, social media starts with two platforms: blogs and Twitter.
A number of tremendous green building blogs are now available and the best way to keep track of them is through an RSS reader. I prefer Google Reader. What is RSS? I like to describe it as an online mailbox where your subscriptions to websites and blogs are delivered. The video below also does a good job explaining RSS:
What green building blogs would I recommend? I recommend you start with one blog that aggregates many of the best green building blogs: Sustainable Cities Collective. By subscribing to the Sustainable Cities Collective RSS feed, you are subscribing to a handful of green building blogs.
The next web 2.0 platform I use is Twitter. The first step to using Twitter is to create a user name -- I highly recommend using your own name (@chrischeatham). After setting up your Twitter account, you need to start following people and join the conversation. There are hundreds of green building experts on Twitter, but I am going to mention two to get you started.
- @kilrwat - This is Rob Watson, the Father of LEED. He is also the editor at GreenerBuildings.com and is not afraid to share his opinions about green building and the environment.
- @elaineishere - Elaine Hsieh is on a bunch of LEED committees and is always in the know about the future of green building. She regularly provides new information and helpful green building links.
Once you are comfortable with Twitter, you can upgrade to power Twitter by using Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows you to search for key terms, manage all of your online profiles and so much more in one central location. Thanks to Matt Handal for suggesting Hootsuite.
That is the green building version of social media.
What did I miss?
Excellent post, as always. I think there's increasing room for Facebook here, too.
Looks good Chris. Don't forget the various green building related groups at LinkedIn
Great suggestions, Chris - great places to start. Twitter users should also watch for and track key words interested in by using a hash-tag. i.e. #greenbuilding or #greenenergy. There are so many people in twitter land that it is hard to keep track of them all and read what they have to say, but by watching these key terms you can see the main points and dig deeper from there.
Thanks so much for recommending me to your readers, Chris. (I'm extremely flattered by your mention since I admire the content you produce as well.) There are so many great green building experts on twitter, and I find myself learning so much from everyone I follow and interact with each day. Social media has certainly helped level the playing field in terms of demonstrating expertise and promoting awareness to a broad audience, and it is humbling and gratifying when I am able to make connections with people whom I admire because of my involvement in this medium. Keep up the great work!