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The most sustainable social media companies to use in 2021
Social media presence is a must in todays modern marketing plan in companies around the world, but which social media companies are sustainable to use and which are bad polluters? In this article we will find the most sustainable social media companies to use in 2021, address some of the issues using social media’s in your marketing, which companies that is good for your sustainability plan and which you should stay away from.
How can social media companies pollute?
Social media companies are running their communities on web servers which are located in data centers around the world. These data centers requires electricity in order to run and provide data and some of these data centers does not make use of 100% green and sustainable energy. In fact some of them are powered by coal which is very bad for our earth.
Every time you enter a social media website, you are contacting their server which sends data to you from their data center. This action requires electricity since the server has to be running and it requires even more electricity to find and manipulate the data stored in these data centers. As you can imagine, it doesn’t make a big difference that you alone are using a social media website running on coal energy, but if 2 million people around the world are thinking the same, then the numbers are rising.
You are most likely familiar with the social media giant Facebook started by Mark Zuckerburg, and you probably also have a profile on their website since most other people on earth have that. But do you know if Facebook is a polluter or not? Most people don’t think about this, since Facebook is just the place that we contact our family and friends.
If you are one of those who use Facebook, then you can quit being nervous, since Facebook has been 100% green since 2021. 2021 is also the year that Facebook became 100% net zero emissions. This means that by scrolling through Facebook, playing videos, video chatting etc wont pollute. This also means that you and your company can use Facebook in your marketing strategy without feeling bad for the environment.
If you are interested in reading more about Facebook becoming net zero emissions, then the article is here https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-hits-100-renewable-energy-target-early-still-faces-heat-for-climate-change-denial-on-site-11618491271
Facebooks website: https://www.facebook.com
Most of us know Twitter and actively use them in our marketing in order to reach more potential customers, but according to the ClickClean list from Green Peace Twitter is one of the worst and most polluting social media’s around the world. Apparently only 10% of the energy used to run Twitters servers are made by renewable and green energy.
This means every time you hit refresh on Twitter, post or retweet something, then you are responsible for CO2 being let out into the air.
If you are interested in reading the ClickClean article from GreenPeace, then you can find the link at the bottom of this article.
Twitters website: https://www.twitter.com
YouTube
YouTube is one of the most used websites for watching videos all around the world. You can literally find anything to your liking and using it as a part of your marketing is smart. Luckily YouTube is a part of Google and according to GreenPeaces ClickClean report, YouTube is a class A social media website.
Google owns YouTube and in their report for 2020 they have achieved 100% coverage of their electricity use by using green renewable energy such as wind and solar. This means also YouTube is running on green sustainable energy and therefore you can use YouTube in your marketing without feeling bad.
Youtube’s website: https://www.youtube.com
Vimeo
Vimeo is the second largest video content social media website, and unfortunately they only score a D on Green Peace’s ClickClean report. 47% of the energy used to run Vimeo is renewable and green, but unfortunately up to 20% comes from coal as well. This puts Vimeo at the bottom of the list beneath YouTube on the sustainable scale.
Vimeos website: https://www.vimeo.com
Instagram is owned by Facebook and therefore Instagram is also running on Facebooks servers. Since Facebook have become net zero emissions since 2021, also Instagram have become completely net zero emissions. Therefore you can with ease in your soul use Instagram as a part of your marketing.
Instagrams website: https://www.instagram.com
If you would like to read Green Peace’s ClickClean report from 2017, then you can click the link below and you will be redirected to it: http://www.clickclean.org/international/en/
We would like to thank you for reading this article, and we hope it gave you some insight in which social media companies you can use in your marketing while becoming more sustainable. Please share this article in order to reach more website owners and developers around the world and to promote sustainability on the internet.
Author
Michael Andersen
I am a self-taught and highly passionate web developer currently living in Sweden, where I use my skills to make the internet a better place through ethical and sustainable web design.
Michael Andersen
I am a self-taught and highly passionate web developer currently living in Sweden, where I use my skills to make the internet a better place through ethical and sustainable web design.
