I love getting e-mail. I think it’s a feeling left over from when I was a kid, and getting mail was an event that only happened a few times a year. I remember the first time I got a credit card offer… it was a big defining moment in my life. Needless to say, my dreams were shattered when my mom pointed out that a 15-year-old couldn’t have a credit card. But thankfully, I still get lots and lots of them today.
These days, most of my e-mail consists of the kind of material on par with credit card offers. Offers like, “Save my Nigerian prince brother and I will transfer $1.5 million dollars into your bank account!” or “Enlarge you _______!” or “Lose 48 pounds in the next 3 hours!” show up on a regular basis in my Inbox. And then of course, I get a newsletter from every website I ever visited since 1998.
So, the idea of signing up for Google alerts, just so I can get MORE e-mails, seem counterproductive, but at least Google alerts are on topics I actually want to read about.
Today’s alert summary on “sustainability” brought up a blog post from Smart Planet, an interactive website sponsored by CBS. The post was about prioritizing your CSR goals for sustainability. I won’t summarize it here, because you should just go read it. But one tip stood out to me, and made me think of how it applied to what I’m usually talking about on this blog.
“You need tools that analyze in real time, not just a moment in time. Yes, I know that getting a grip on your carbon footprint is not easy. But, once you do, why would you report it just once a year?”
The tip ends with a great question: why would companies just report it once a year? Especially when powerful (and virtually free) tools, like Facebook, Twitter, e-books, websites, YouTube, etc., are easily available? And who really wants to read an annual report? I mean, seriously. I would much rather watch a cool video like the one below on a topic like corporate social responsibility. Or view a Facebook photo album about a company’s latest going green efforts. Or get a tweet when my favorite company has reached an important sustainability goal.
