The Social Media Battleground: How Public Perception, Science Communication, Media Coverage, and Politics Are Shaped by Social Media

摘要

Energy industries, particularly companies that rely on coal power, find themselves at the crosshairs of public opposition fueled by social media. Social media has evolved from an online way to connect with friends to becoming the international morning newspaper. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, reddit, and other online forums influence what is reported by mainstream media, enable activist groups to quickly mobilize support and funding, and often renders traditional business communication modes ineffective. How a company or industry sector responds to these social media challenges can have repercussions that extend to the political arena, regulatory policy, and the bottom line. One-sided representations and portrayals in social media don’t allow room for conveying technical facts. As a result, the way science is communicated to the public has dramatically changed. Not only do companies need a modern strategy to refute inaccurate claims on social media, they also need to engage a broader audience, inform stakeholders, foster a dialogue, and prevent a groundswell of pressure tactics. This paper analyzes the coal ash “footprint” on social media, which reveals risks and opportunities for advancing the utilization of coal combustion products (CCP). Case studies of social media communication fails and success stories in other energy and business-to-consumer sectors are discussed in the context of lessons learned. The paper presents workable strategies, developed in collaboration with digital media experts, which can be used by companies in the CCP industry for public outreach and marketing.