Is Social Media Hurting the Environment?

| February 1, 2010

Image by: Nimbuzz

The clang and clamour of social media enforce passivity, not activity, argues green branding expert Marc Stoiber. And we need all the activity we can get.

At a green branding conference this summer, I noticed that 90 percent of the audience never looked at the stage – instead, they were rapid-typing the content of the speeches into their tweets or blog entries.

I thought I was witnessing a glorious mass communication revolution. Until I looked over some shoulders, that is. “Speaker says green is here to stay,” said the screens. “Green is good for business.”

A woefully anemic version of what the speaker was saying.

While flexing their social media muscles, the audience was missing out on 95 per cent of the message. Technology had turned them into stenographers – and not particularly faithful ones. There was just tapping – no synthesis, no analysis, no thinking.

The inclination to chatter is a grave flaw in social media, and it impedes us in trying to solve serious problems. The fight against climate change, for example, benefits nil from a fire hose of blather. It needs focus.

I’m no Luddite. I understand and admire the power of social media. It provides shades of content, it’s visceral and raw, and it’s authentic. It can connect me instantly with like-minded thinkers.

But it doesn’t replace real action, real connection, real commitment. Becoming a fan of Al Gore on Facebook may make me feel like I belong, but it isn’t doing a damn thing to save the world.

It does, however, illuminate a disturbing phenomenon. We have become a society that is terrified of being left out.

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Like any tool it's how you

Submitted by Eric Swanson (not verified) on Sat, 2010-02-13 13:55.

Like any tool it's how you use it that counts, or more so the intent of the person using it. For those who are dedicated to active citizenship they can apply that intent with social media tools and achieve impressive results in rally turnouts, letters sent, phone calls made, awareness raised, etc. For those who don't have a preexisting intent to be active citizens, because they have more nihilistic intents or whatever, they're probably more likely to mental spew all over the internet like your 'green is good for business' person. The trend I see is for the already engaged percentage of the population to be more efficient in their activism, though it requires discipline to not get caught up in meaningless chatter, so I heed your warning on that one. Corporate Campaigner, Dogwood Initiative

Social media certainly have

Submitted by David Jordan (not verified) on Wed, 2010-02-03 11:08.

Social media certainly have their place, but just as with other bubbles, a frenzied mob clamouring for a “revolution” has blown their importance out of all proportion. (Remember when e-commerce ushered in a “new economy” where quaint notions like revenue and profit were suddenly passé?) A platform for instant broadcast to thousands is useful, but it doesn’t replace one-on-one communication. David Jordan

Hm, while I appreciate the

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2010-02-01 15:24.

Hm, while I appreciate the point you are trying to make, I don't think it has anything to do with twitter as such. Social and political passivity is a much more deeply rooted phenomenon than twitter (I also think are are wrong that the importance of one's follower numbers is narcissitic), instead stemming from the average person's fundamental disconnection from the sources of power. Not using twitter as much will not do anything to effect social and political change. In fact, most of the data and experiences in the last couple of years have shown that twitter is actually an important (potential) tool for political change (see Iran, China, etc.) - in fact, so much so that governments fear it and repress it. Your critique should rather focus on the general tendency not to take responsibility for one's choices and think critically about their implications. As McLuhan argued well, the mediums in which this takes place are important, but I disagree that the "message" of twitter is simply banal chatter. Shea @justgrapeswine

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