Don't Miss the CSR Twitter Explosion

Do you think Twitter could explode ? Could a rush of millions of tweets by hundreds of tweeps all over the world cause Twitter to shatter into millions of pieces all over cyberspace and create the world's first Twitter Big Bang? Can Twitter survive the shock? Next Thursday 13th September 2012 at 3pm ET, you will have the chance to find out and be part of an amazing experience. Even if Twitter survives, you will never get over the Buzz. Even if Twitter remains intact, you will never be the same again. Can you afford to miss out on one of the most energizing Twitter happenings of 2013? Could you ever forgive yourself for not experiencing the Twitter CSR explosion? Of course not. You have to be there. It's the #CSRChat, this time on the subject of "The ABCs of #CSR Reporting in the world of Social Media". With me as the Special Guest. Wow. What an honor!

 

 #CSRChat has been going strong now since early 2011 and has become the finger on the pulse of what's going on in CSR. #CSRChat is The Hashtag of The #CSR #Twitterscape. The leading light, initiator and brainwaver behind the #CSRChat movement is Susan McPherson, SVP, Senior Vice President and Director of Global Marketing at Fenton Communications, a serial connector, passionate cause marketer, writer, corporate responsibility expert and social media champion, and the most talented, genuine, generous and effervescent personality in  the CSR space today.  It's her great leadership of #CSRChat that has turned it into the not-to-miss tweet event on anyone's CSR calendar.

 

 

The last #CSRChat caused an explosion of fascinating tweets and was well worth an hour of fast-paced insights and generous sharing of experiences and insights from Sue Stephenson, the VP of Community footprints at Ritz Carlton, who talked about, among other things, the hotel's Give Back Getaways (#GiveBack), the first global #voluntourism program followed by #VolunTeaming for group guests. A fabulous core-business sustainability opportunity involving employees, customers and suppliers and turning Ritz Carlton into a true sustainability pioneer.

Previous #CSRChats have included special guests John Elkington, the all-time guru, or should I say Zeronaut, of sustainability,   Christina Bennett who manages global PR strategy and social media at Elizabeth Arden, Sarah Altshuller, a senior associate with the CSR practice at Foley Hoag, with a focuses on human rights, Margaret Coady, Director of Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), Dov Seidman, who has made a splash with How Metrics, Dave Stangis of Campbell's Soups and Susan Fallender of Intel on creating and running a CSR department,   and nine members of Microsoft's Citizenship Team who discussed Microsoft's commitment to sustainability. Other #CSRChats have covered  the role of video in corporate responsibility, CSR's role in disaster recovery, climate change and CSR, human rights and more.  The very first #CSRChat was on the subject of Employee Engagement.

 

If you have any questions about CSR Reporting and Social Media that you want covered in the #CSRChat, you can tweet them using the #CSRChat hashtag, or post them as a comment on this blog and we will make sure we cover them.

 

Please do mark your calendars for Thursday 13th September 3pm ET and get your tweet muscles in shape, log in and join in the discussion. I have even resigned myself to not eating ice-cream for a full hour as I don't want to get my keyboard covered in Chunky Monkey while I tweet fast and  furiously.

 

See you there! 

 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz  (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

45 hashtags for sustainability reports

I read an interesting article on Twitter. About the use of hashtags and how they are subversively infiltrating our language. Very soon, we will greet people face to face with "Hashtag Good Morning"  or wish our family and friends a "Hashtag Happy Birthday" or respond when someone asks how we are with "Hashtag Fine". Yes, this is our new language of Twitterish. It is not confined to Twitter. It's changing the way we speak and write. Naturally, for me, as I have a very narrow view of the world - everything is related either to ice cream or to sustainability reporting - I pondered a little on the use of hashtags in sustainability reports. I don't think I have seen any reports written in Twitterish, yet. 140 character sentences and twitpic images. I might consider that for Beyond Business's next report, but in the meantime, if you are considering Twitterifying your Sustainability Report, here is the Official Sustainability Report Hashtag Lexicon, and remember, you saw it here first!

The following hashtags are grouped into three categories:

• Simple (needs no explanation, every report has them)
• Simple Plus (hashtags with full or partial external assurance,  which raise the credibility level of your report)
• Complex (unusual, innovative or sector-specific hashtags which impress the socks off your stakeholders )

Simple Hashtags
#csr
#sustainability
#report
#sustainabilityreport
#stakeholder
#stakeholderengagement
#welovestakeholders
#ourpeopleareourgreatestasset
#customerservice
#materiality
#materialissues
#notapplicable
#notmaterial
#notreported
#GRI
#GRIreferenced
#informedbytheGRI
#almostGRI
#maybeGRI
#nextyearGRI
#transparent
#verytransparent
#incrediblytransparent
#carbonneutral
#environmentalstewardship
#wecareaboutouremployees

SimplePlus Hashtags
#accurate
#balanced
#fair
#honest
#reliable
#authentic

Complex Hashtags
#weopposeconflictminerals
#webuysustainablepalmoil
#creatingsharedvalueisinourDNA
#makingmoreprofitisnottheonlythingwecareabout
#empoweringcommunitiessothattheybuymoreproducts
#givingpeoplejobsisacontributiontosociety
#employabilityisavalue
#humanrightsareeverybody'srights
#wetotallyvalueyourfeedback
#pleasesendyourfeedbacktothisdisconnectednumber
#weareproudofwhatwehaveachievedsofareventhoughwemissedourtargets
#wehaveinvestedsignificanteffortsindevelopingthisreport
#nowwesitbackandonothinguntilnextyear


 elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz  (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

10 ways to liberate the sustainability report

Yesterday saw the publication of the SMI-Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index, a must-read for anyone who wants to know who are the corporate movers and shakers of the social media cypermap and what they are doing and why.  According to the report, authored by the social-media master Matthew Yeomans, "a new landscape of social media sustainability has emerged. Today, at least 250 major corporates are engaged in some form of social media sustainability comms and more than 100 have a blog, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter channel dedicated to talking about sustainability."

The report ranks the social media practices of 100 top rated sustainable companies (selected from existing listings and green rankings) provided they have a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account or YouTube channel..  If you are serious about socmed, then at least one of these options is a must-have.

Companies today are using social media "to not just communicate their sustainability stance but also to involve the public in building a better world". The main ways in which they do this include hiring experienced filmmakers, writers and reporters to tell a complicated story well, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, creating alliances with NGOs, charities and conservation watchdogs to support common goals and raise awareness, leveraging the public through campaigns and contests, and more. Twitter is the main platform used by corporates, followed by Facebook, YouTube and a Company blog. See the full report to see who does what best. But here's a hint. The top ten in social media.

The methodology of calculating the ranking for the 100 companies in the sample is based on a score of a maximum 100 points which include the following parameters:

• Useful communication: possible 20 points
• Commitment to community: possible 20 points
• Transparency (allowing comments and replying) - 10 points
• Communicating actions not beliefs - possible 10 points
• Social media shareable CR/Sustainability Report - possible 10 points
• Regular updates of social media communication - possible 10 points
• Creative storytelling - possible 20 points

GE came out as the overall best with a score of 93 points, retaining its first place from last year because of consistent leverage of social media channels to advance the Ecomagination and Healthimagination agendas, and also because of its "App". There are actually several companies who are using Apps to make their reports accessible to a wider audience, as I mentioned in my CSRwire.com article earlier this month. Apps will become commonplace for Sustainability Reports, I have no doubt. Pretty soon we will need an App to track the Sustainability Report Apps. VF corporation made it into 7th place with 84 points (from nowhere last year) , mainly because of its Timberland acquisition. The Top Ten SocMed Swingers' best practices are profiled in the report which makes for fascinating reading and offers inspiration for companies which haven't yet staked their claim.

One thing that was of particular interest to reporting geeks like me was Matthew Yeoman's analysis entitled "10 ways to liberate the sustainability report". This year, 36% of the 100 companies reviewed in the index have used social media to "liberate their reports from the dungeons of disinterest" (wow, a little harsh, maybe? Remind me to take a look in my local dungeon for the 64% which have apparently stayed there). Anyway, 36% is more more than double the number of companies which were reported to be dungeon-free  last year. The ones who are picked out for commendation are:

• GE : for their iTunes App
• Alstom : with a shareable microsite
• Timberland: for use of social channels
• SAP: for an interactive materiality matrix
• North Face: for use of video
• Alcatel Lucent: for publishing their report on Scribd
• Danisco: for publishing on Slideshare
• UPS and McDonald's: for use of infographics
• Ford: for a sharable digital map

Finally, the report also lists the top 100 Sustainability Twitterers (among which I am proud to be counted) and I will now happily call myself a member of the Wizness Green Twitterati. 22 of the 100 are company twitter handles and 20 are NGO's. A good a #CSR #FF list as ever there was.

By now it is clear that Sustainability without Social Media is like Ice Cream without a Spoon. It's all in the delivery. The SMI-Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index will help you think about what companies are doing today to leverage their sustainability platforms through all the social media possibilities that are available. The author even offers a checklist to help companies get thinking about telling their social stories. The only thing that's missing is what flavor ice-cream the corporate bloggers prefer.

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz/en  (BeyondBusiness, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

Tweet Release

Do you think of #Twitter as a #lens or a #megaphone? Are you a #Twitter #wallflower? Do you see #Twitter as helping you to become a better #communicator? 

Ok, enough of the #hashtags. #youcangetalittlecarriedaway....

I just wanted to update you on the new "Short and Sweet" Twitter Guide for communications professionals published by Fenton Communications.  I may not formally be called a communications professional but I try to communicate professionally and professional communications form a large part of my work in the sustainability arena. Whilst I have not yet written a Sustainability Report in tweets (yet) (hmmm, that's an idea) (has anyone?), Twitter has fast become an indispensible platform for communicating in business in general and in sustainability in particular. I have been quoted as saying that “Twitter has done as much for corporate responsibility as the great thought leaders through sheer accessibility" and I stand by that. I also posted about the role of Twitter in sustainability communications some time ago in a post called "What Twitter does for CSR".

Fenton believes in the power of Twitter for professional communications and with this publication they urge you to make Twitter your lens and to immerse yourself in Twitter as a media tool. The Guide provides information about what Twitter is and how it works for you, how to use twitter and aha! a Tweet Cheat Sheet to make you lives easier when while you are immersing yourself. Go on, twimmerse yourself.

This is not just a standard layman's guide to what to include in your Tweets. It's an important education on the way information flows. This is essential to understanding how to leverage information flows to help spread your message more effectively. Fenton's description of  "Twitter as the new press release" is no exaggeration. Learning how to deploy Twitter for improved positioning of your company or organization is an essential communicators' skill in this, the twitteronic century. Doing your daily 30 minute Twitter workout is probably habit for Twitter veterans but for those who haven't got there yet, the Fenton guide gives you the heads-up. The Tweet Cheat Sheet may sound pretty basic for the more tweetified among us, but for those who have not yet mastered tweet-art, it may be just what you need.

Fenton are not just preaching about Twitter. They do it. Susan McPherson, SVP at Fenton, is the mind behind the bi-weekly Twitter chats on CSR (#CSRchat) which draw tens of professionals in each session to share views on a range of issues in an intensive hour of fast-moving, high-quality, content-rich, informative and insightful 140 character blasts. And a few jokes too. To see summaries of #CSRchats to date and get updates of forthcoming #CSRchat topics, check out the Fenton CSR blog or search the #CSRchat hashtag on Twitter. (If you don't know how to do that, check out the Fenton Twiter Guide :)).

So, the only thing that isn't mentioned in the Fenton Twitter Guide is that, for CSR and sustainability, you just have to follow @Fentonprogress and @susanmpc1. Oh, and the fact that Tweeting and Ice Cream go very well together.

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz/en  (Beyond Business, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

GSB and a better future

I can't close this week without a mention of the newly relauched Guardian Sustainable Business website, which "marks a significant step in the Guardian's efforts to help build a better future", as Jo Confino says in a blog-post. "The free GSB website will act as a hub of the best information and debate on the subject available across social media ."

The website includes news on sustainable business topics, the sustainable business blog, a focus on the Global Cleantech 100, a useful series of sustainability (mainly envronment) profiles of leading companies and more. You can also register to join the Guardian community, complete surveys and win points to be redeemed at Amazon. Yeah! The site also contains a twitter stream including yours truly, humbled to be in company with other outstanding tweeps such as @fabianpattberg, @davidcoethica and @futerra. Fabian also blogs for the site - see his excellent inaugural post on the events which have changed corporate sustainability in the past 12 months. You can follow GBS on Twitter at @GuardianSustBiz.  

What I like most about the Guardian Sustainable Business site is not only the content, and that's pretty good!, but the fact that this is brought to us by a company that walks the talk. There are so many companies, vendors, actors, players in the sustainability space that preach but do not practice. They are more than happy to advise others, but do not engage in sustainability from within. The Guardian has demonstrated quite clearly that Sustainability means Business for them, as well as values, and they have embraced sustainability practice, including  excellent, transparent, sustainability reporting which is groundbreaking progress for a media company. Somehow, sustainable news is more interesting when it is delivered by a sustainable company.

GSB is one of my go-there-every-day-websites. I recommend that you make it one of yours too!

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz/en  (BeyondBusiness,  CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

What Twitter does for CSR

 I was recently wasquoted in a post by the brilliant Sherie Winston as saying that “Twitter has done as much for corporate responsibility as the great thought leaders through sheer accessibility,”. And in a linkedin conversation about CSR reporting, Cindy Mehallow, who has done wonderful work with PSEG on reporting,  asked me why I think Twitter has done so much for CSR communications. So here's what I think Twitter's contribution to CSR and to CSR communications is all about:

Twitter makes CSR info accessible to more people more of the time. With hundreds of CSR and Sustainability and Green tweeps tweeting their CSR news items or other CSR interest items, the world cannot fail to be more aware of many new aspects of CSR and how it is evolving as we speak blog tweet. Awareness in itself doesn't make all that much of a  difference. But awareness is a precursor to action. Just by making people aware, you change their paradigms, and new paradigms bring new motivations and new activities. I have no data, but I would bet any amount of chunky monkeys that CSR tweets have driven CSR actions to a great degree in these last few years.

Twitter IS CSR conversations. Of course, Facebook, LinkedIn, Justmeans, DevelopmentCrossing and many more networks offer conversation possibilities. But Twitter does it quicker, faster and more directly. Limiting to 140 characters forces you to choose what you want to say very carefully. Just look at some of the dialogues happening on Twitter around COP15, or human rights, or employee engagement. They may not have the richness of a Linkedin thread, but people are getting their points of view across. I believe this is changing the way people are talking and  thinking about CSR.

Twitter brings CSR leaders closer . The wealth of twittering CSR celebs such as Ray Anderson of Interface  (@RayCAnderson) , Jeff Swartz of Timberland ( @Timberland_Jeff) , Jeff Hollender of Seventh Generation ( @JeffHollender) , Kevin Moss of BT ( @KevinIMoss) , Richard Branson of , well, Richard Branson ( @richardbranson) ,  Fadi  Ghandour of Aramex ( @fadig) Dave Stangis of Campbell Soup ( @dstangis) , and CSR thought leaders such as Noreena Hertz ( @NoreenaHertz) , Christine Arena ( @christinearena ) , Rosabeth Kanter ( @RosabethKanter )  Adam Werbach ( @adamwerbach ) , Joel Makower ( @makower) , and CSR organizations such as CERES ( @ceresnews), the GRI ( @GRI_Secretariat), make the possibility of conversing with these leading lights, understanding what's important to them, hearing their insights and following their example. This is what  future CSR leaders aspire to and are inspired by. Equally, I am sure that the CSR-tweeting leaders are thereby exposed to quesions, feedback and reactions that that are uniquely twitterous, i.e. that they would otherwise have no access to. And this helps them build their own thoughts and positions and leadership.  

Twitter stages CSR connections. People are meeting each other, creating partnerships, making deals, doing new things in the CSR space. Connections and actions that would never have been possible on slow networks such as Facebook or Linked in. Twitter is fast and furious, creating fast and furious changes in the way people are working together across country borders.

Twitter is just one big CSR conference. It is probably true to say that someone is tweeting from every single CSR conference or event, wherever it is happening in the world. So what would normally have been a closed meeting for the privilege of the privileged few is now an open newstream of insights from inspiring CSR folks for the accessibility-challenged many. This is helping to create greater interest in the CSR body of knowledge which is evolving as we blog.

Twitter is the absolute best source of CSR news. In addition to all the CSR news sites that tweet away such as @CSRWire, @GreenEconPost   @2Sustain and more, i suspect that there is no news item anywhere on CSR that doesnt get tweeted, that is, noticed by a far greater community. Whether it be a latest video from a CSR conference, or a new social flavor from Ben and Jerry's, or a donation of $375,000 by Unilever to Feeding America, or human rights abuse in someone's supply chain, or a way to make your holiday gift benefit the world ( @iGiveTwice) ...it's tweeted. Now don't tell me that's not influencing the way Companies  think and talk about CSR . Here are a few i just jinged:

Twitter is now core in CSR comms strategies. HP, Fedex, Microsoft , Intel and many more are tweeting their CSR updates. This is a tool to engage both internal and external audiences (us CSR folks call them stakeholders). Think back to a couple of years ago. What comms routes did companies have to spread their positive news and engage in conversation about it, with just about anyone? 

Twitter is a CSR jobs recruitment platform. At least once a day a CSR job is posted on Twitter. Or should i say once an hour. Because it seems like that.

And, I saved the best for the last:

Twitter announces CSR reports. Every CSR report published is announced by someone somewhere on Twitter (oops, its me, more often than not) (haha)  Often, highlights from the report such as ghg emissions reduction, or community invesment, or a CEO statement are tweeted as well. I think Twitter has become a platform for creating awareness of CSR reporting in a way which has never been achieved through press releases, websites, email, or RSS. 

Note that I havent mentioned the way Twitter is used to promote brands, or the way it is used for customer service, or to announce new products and services. All these link to CSR as well, in one way or another. 

All in all, Twitter is a CSR communications tool , more than anything we have ever had at our disposal  in the past. So now, Cindy, you know what I meant. But I am glad you asked me to spell it out.

Anyway, I'm off now to send a few CSR tweets before my signal-to-noise ratio takes a nose-dive....

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm . Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en