Twitter and Social Media in Green

Today and tomorrow I'm at 140: The Twitter Conference hearing a lot about the history and developments different people from Twitter are planning on. I will be posting thoughts and developments from the Conference as they come to

I've written before about social media and the green movement, especially how they both come down to one thing: community. You can't be green on your own and you can't be social with any media by yourself.

Thoughts on green uses of Twitter.

1. FlashMobs: CarrotMob is part of San Francisco's Virgance network- basically they do focused shopping at stores and restaurants that they find are doing great green things. CarrotMob organized people to go and spend money there en masse. This takes a lot of organizing and emails- why not use Twitter? If someone were at a store and wanted to do this kind of thing impromptu, they could. FlashMob-style politicized green shopping. Yes.

2. Community building: There is already a strong green community on Twitter. #ecomonday is the green version of #followfriday, which starts that ball rolling. Twilight Earth just put out an article called: "What the Hashtag? Navigating the #Green World of Twitter" http://is.gd/FrxD" So, people and publications are making things happen and already building that community. Since green is building from grassroots beginnings and loose national networks and Twitter itself is still growing their site layout and structures- why isn't there a green Twitter app? Are there Twitter community apps? Maybe there should be soon.

3. Backcountry Tweets: Because one of the hallmarks of Twitter is that it can communicate over SMS even when a phone call doesn't work would be a great way to improve safety for backcountry trips- and keep them green.

More later...

The Role of Confidence in the Green World

Chris Brogan posted on April 26 about the role of Confidence in doing what you do. It was a great post that combined experience with suggestion, the core of any solid words to think by. While he was talking more about social media, it got me thinking about the role of confidence in the growing Green movement.

My father used to say that the strongest team is the one with "Mo" on it, as in Momentum- the green movement team is strong on momentum right now. I read a post on Gas2.org today about a movement in Norway to ban gas-powered cars by 2015. I saw a tweet yesterday about how President Obama is working the politics to implement a carbon cap & trade system with or without Congress. "Mo" is on the green side.

Here are some of my thoughts on how his bold headers relate to Green:

Confidence is About Small Successes

Moving from activism to community action to business influence, green could write the book about small successes over the past 40 years. At some points that's all there was. When I started writing I would go to the printer and ask for recycled paper and they would say they had to order it special. Last week I asked for recycled paper and they said which one? That's a small success with a big impact.

Confidence is About Risk
Brogan talks about skateboarding as a crash course in risk, and he's right. When I worked in outdoor adventure my job was to work with people as they took risks and to take those risks myself, whether rafting, backpacking or having a difficult conversation with people you had to share a tent with! As green makes its way into the business and mainstream worlds, the comfort zone of activist passion and environmentalism will provide the value base, but the movement will have to take risks and make new partnerships.

Confidence is About Support
Green is growing. From those activism roots that I'm talking about into new areas and with new power. The last 100 days with President Obama have been momentous. I personally connect with dozens of people everyday because my Twitter name is @ecoscott and I list myself as a Green Copywriter. Green is something people want to support and will if there are ways. And if seeing Green in advertisements on the train is any indication, the support will keep growing.

Confidence is About Eliminating Excuses
Yes. With climate change in the news everyday, there is no excuse to pretend like we don't know what's going on. With Obama in the White House, there is no excuse for politics to not move forward and make big things happen. With business and our economy needing to rebuild to move forward, there is no excuse not to incorporate Green in a big, meaningful way.

Along with this, each of us needs to eliminate the excuses for making Green an influential part of our own life.

And that leads to his final two points about Confidence:

Confidence Is About Setting Goals and Making Commitments/ Confidence is About Believing In Yourself First

For the Green movement, all the seeds of confidence are there. It is up to any of us who want to be active in that movement to start by being active in our own lives and make the Commitments that will lead to the "small successes" like my recycled paper example.

Combine commitment with belief and those small successes will grow right before your eyes.

I would love to hear about how you or someone you know is starting to be involved in the Green movement or how you are trying to incorporate it into your life- please let me know.

Green Personal Branding: What does it mean?

Green personal branding is identifying and positioning yourself in a niche of the explosive green movement. But how does a personal brand exist within a concept like green, that has so long been the realm of activism and non-profits? What kind of new issues sprout to the surface as personal branding enters Green?

As a marketing tool, branding serves to position a person as the solution to a customer's problem. But how does personal brand translate when focused on a "cause" rather than a product?

The first example of personal green branding that comes to mind is Julia "Butterfly" Hill. Hill spent nearly 2 years in an ancient redwood tree she called Luna to bring attention to destructive logging practices. In the end, her activism saved the tree and a nearly 3 mile buffer zone around it, as well as brought attention and actionable change to the issue of old growth logging.

Since her monumental "tree sit," Hill has utilized her brand to raise awareness of even more issues and taken up a battle against what her website, http://www.circleoflife.org, calls "celebretitis," or the glorification of celebrity for its own sake.

Another person that comes to mind is Van Jones. Jones is the author of Green Collar Economy, a book about how to solve poverty and the environment. Jones defines green collar jobs as a "family-supporting, career-track job that directly contributes to preserving or enhancing environmental quality." A tall order that Jones believes can and will offer one solution to two big problems: poverty and environmental destruction. He created an non-profit called Green For All in Oakland, CA to study, develop and create policy and action at all legislative levels. He was recently appointed to President Barack Obama's administration with a focus on green collar jobs.

Jones is using his powerful personal green branding to create public policy.

Neither of these two iconic people are using their personal green branding to sell a product, but in the more traditional activism realm of the green movement. Will this continue or will personal green branding become more focused on commerce as green itself becomes more and more utilized in branding?

The big questions that remain are whether "green" will lose its meaning as it becomes part of the advertising world or if green will act as a change agent from within as the economy and society grow.

For now, the question remains a seed in the spring of the green movement.