We tend to look at social media as a business tool, but it can help change the world too — as Nevada Business reported with the 100 Days of Recycling campaign.

Even in the middle of a pandemic, the planet still needs thinking about, so Waste Management of Nevada came up with some genuinely fun ideas to keep responsible recycling in the minds of school children and their families. Through October 2020 their northern Nevada Facebook page filled up with creative projects for children to work on, under the name 100 Days of Recycling.

Activities were posted across their social platforms to encourage taking part, with photos of the results uploaded and a prize at the end.

It need not stop there, either. Social media is an ideal way of engaging children, because it is not about telling them how it is — it brings them into the process as participants. Photographing how their waste was separated into different bins, for example, or looking at how items are packaged and how waste can be reduced at home and at work.

It is good to see Nevada tackling climate issues this way, and it is being used as a route to that conversation worldwide.

Using Social Media To Communicate Climate Issues

Tabatha Whiting wrote about the Blue Planet II effect and how it strengthened public understanding of climate change. The volume of Google searches after the documentary aired was enormous, and the shares and follows of related content afterwards carried it further still.

The reaction on Twitter during the final episode went further again, with comments shifting from praise for the programme to calls for action. The important part is that the message reached beyond the already-convinced to people who had not engaged with the issue, and changed some minds and behaviour.

It does not matter whether you live in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London or somewhere far quieter — social media can bring together people with the same beliefs and goals, and sometimes shift the behaviour of everyone watching.

Billions of people use a social platform in one form or another. That is an enormous audience for selling an idea, raising awareness, or pushing people towards a positive change.

The same mechanics apply to a business: see our social media marketing section for how a campaign is put together.

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