On March 22, we hosted our second annual Evening of Recognition. You can read Mike’s blog about it here so I’m not going to speak too much about the event itself; instead, I’m going to share one of the elements that really stood out for me – the social media buzz that accompanied the event.

Social media isn’t new to Sustainable Waterloo Region. Social Media Manager Jenn Carreiro does an amazing and admirable job of keeping our friends and followers updated and engaged with news and events about Sustainable Waterloo Region, RCI members and general environmental news updates. But what was incredibly exciting to see was the number of people who were using social media to share their own stories about the Evening of Recognition.

As the speeches and celebrations began that night, so did the tweeting, posting and texting.

All around the room, people began sharing their excitement through the wonders of social media and smart phones. They invited others to join in, share the excitement, share the pride, share the energy. They did it through Twitter. They did it through Facebook. They did it through text messages. Even those who weren’t at the event helped spread the word by posting our social media news release (read it here), which opened up a broader way for us to share information. That news release gave us the means to share RCI member stories more interactively than ever through web links and embedded videos and images.

By the end of the evening, there were up to 50 tweets mentioning our Evening of Recognition hashtag, #swrecognition, and many others that mentioned our Twitter handle, @SustainableWat, and the Evening of Recognition without the hashtag.

Collaborating for action

I’ve heard debates about how the more we plug in, the more we tune out, but the social media buzz that surrounded our Evening of Recognition contradicted that argument. People plugged in to tune others in and that was amazing and humbling to see – social media as a means to bring together a community built on action.

Social media plays a significant part in collaboration at Sustainable Waterloo Region. If you want to keep up-to-the minute with our news and happenings, follow us on Twitter @SustainableWat, or Facebook us at Sustainable Waterloo Region. If you’re an RCI member, connect with the team and other RCI members through MemberLink.

However we do it, let’s keep the communication and connection flowing.

Cheers,

Kelly