Making our social media meaningful

Social media and the environment, do they have anything in common? In
literal terms very little, but as philosophies or movements perhaps they
do. Certainly both have skeptics and supporters. Both are something of
an annoyance at times but undeniably they are both here to stay. Some
people are slow on the uptake of both and others are embracing them. One
thing is certain, at some point we'll all be touched by both and however
the arguments stack up for and against it's dangerous to bury your head
in the sand and pretend they don't exist.
I've been a skeptic of social media for many years but it has come on
and may now be poised to actually help businesses to develop and drive
sales. Beyond hearing what people had for lunch or the story they read
their 3 year old before bed there are potentially very useful avenues to
explore within the many platforms of social media or networking. There
are of course those that still make a lot of noise and appear to be
posting inane continual streams of rubbish. Anyone following twitter
will have them. To them I say move on and get a life, I'm not interested
in your decaf latte from whatever coffee shop you've visited en route to
the office. However there are others that pop-up and I know they'll be
relevant and interesting - this is a good and acceptable use of social
media.  Sharing details of your life is fine as long as there's a fair
balance between the agenda of your online personality, your cause /
business and how it relates to your personal life.
Similarly the eco movement has a lot of noise, generally less inane but
none the less it needs filtering. The journalists, documentary makers,
bloggers and tweeters are more often than not writing from a position or
stand point they want to re-enforce.  I read a lot about the environment
as you can imagine but I do read the anti as well as the pro
environmentalists. I believe it's very important to hear both sides as
long as you are aware of the contributor's agenda. Both sides try to
discredit the other and in so doing both can lose sight of the absolute
truth. Publishing statistics that can be interpreted to suit their goals
and taking extracts from reports is a well trodden path.

Over the coming months I will be spending more time communicating my
views via twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and Facebook. I will also be
forwarding the writings, views and comments of others.  On the whole of
course my stance is a positive one towards encouraging environmental
protection. However there will be occasions when I uncover some of the
ridiculous schemes and legislation that are simply not helping. On those
occasions please don't assume I've gone across to the other side, don't
think it's ok to stop doing our bit because Evan doesn't think it's
working either.  Until we know 100% the benefits of social media or
environmental issues, and that's unlikely, it would be crazy not to be
involved.  I look forward to bringing social media and the environment
together and having your input too. I want people's engagement and
opinions, comments and thoughts; after all it makes for much more
vigorous debate. But please don't tell me what flavoured biscuit you
just had, or more annoyingly ask me which flavour would I have chosen.