大象传媒

If you鈥檇 told me 20 years ago that there would one day be a company that owned all my most useful communication tools and knew everything about me and most of the world and had the power to torque elections and incite genocide and that its most vocal critic was Borat, I…would have said I鈥檓 not really into sci-fi.

And yet, here we are.

I鈥檝e done the social media diet before. The one where I abstain from everything. The problem is all the tools and resources and information that I miss out on. How would I know when to next inflict my violin playing on the local klezmer jam? How would I know about the latest nimby happenings in my neighborhood? Many people are wrestling with  after watching The Social Dilemma. And I sometimes wish I could do likewise. But I need my socials for work and niche neighborhood news.

If you need your accounts for work, life, or maintaining contact with your far-away aunties or special communities, you accept the good and bad of these platforms. But there are ways to try to use these spaces to push for change, and to make the experience richer for yourself and those around you by sharing valuable climate information, which is severely underrepresented on social media. The goal is not to try to swell your social following. The goal is to try to swell climate鈥檚 social following.

We know that Facebook and Instagram algorithms prioritize a certain type of engagement: enragement. It amplifies the emotional, like angry Trump rants or a cute baby dance. What does this mean for someone who shares climate content? Lots. 

Climate content is often downvoted because it鈥檚 not exceptionally engaging. This isn鈥檛 because people are evil and don鈥檛 care about the world. It鈥檚 because they came to Facebook to look at their second cousin鈥檚 new sailboat with the tasteless name. Not to be confronted with an article about the world鈥檚 rapidly exhausting carbon budget. 

Herewith, Five Tips for Planetary PR: 

1. Be a first-rate curator (without ever referring to yourself as a curator)

Share the most thoughtful articles. The ones that don鈥檛 front load APOCALYPSE. Share beautiful pieces with good data and great art and resonant ideas. Amazing stories of magical plastic-eating enzymes, hydrogen trucks, game-changing forest regeneration techniques, . Share these things not to hide the dire, but to get people to be able to see our possible future at scale鈥攖he world where life is actually better (less pollution, less inequality, more dancing). Add thoughts (RT with comment!) about why you鈥檙e sharing what you鈥檙e sharing, and what you want people to take away from it or do. Highlight the most salient bits for the time-deprived (everyone). .) And look for stories that bridge divides.

2. No smug prescriptions

Do NOT I repeat DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT share content that talks about lifestyle changes we have to make in a hierarchical or judgy manner. I learned this firsthand when I posted an article about reducing air travel, and then took a six-month break from Facebook because I disliked the conversation I had kickstarted so much. People get defensive about the idea that we might need to change our ways (hello, loss aversion!). These articles send people into games of gotcha with the science or math on offer, such as engaging in trade-off thinking: Well, I don鈥檛 drive a truck, so it鈥檚 OK if I eat hamburgers. This is extremely unhelpful because . 

It鈥檚 also not helpful because a lot of these 鈥�Stop doing this, you bad person鈥� pieces are predicated on the narrative that we have to sacrifice.  shows that this is simply untrue. Decarbonization does not mean we all have to suffer through frigid winters eating only rutabaga (has anyone ever eaten a rutabaga?). 

Plus, a lot of these pieces take a core ideological belief (we should not eat animals) and dress it up with emissions-reductions facts, belaboring individual action with no thought of how unfeasible it is for so many. Indeed, behavior change is necessary, but only as means of catalyzing systems change. Needless to say, your uncle Joe didn鈥檛 come to FB to hear that his steak and his truck and his steak-truck (mmm鈥�) are killing the planet. Nor does your underresourced friend need to be harangued with impossibly expensive and time-consuming lifestyle swaps. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if you鈥檙e looking for climate articles that support a preexisting belief you already have (hello, confirmation bias!). I know I鈥檓 deeply susceptible to stories that gel with my worldview and always want to share those in ALL-CAPS with all the emojis and some jazz hands, too.

If you ARE really interested in  (me me me too!) there are lots of  that you can share that help people learn about their footprint on their own terms. A key climate communications (and life) truism is to ask people questions so they can reason out the answers for themselves.

3. Be a generous amplifier

Climate invariably gets less engagement on social, but we can subvert this by liking, commenting, and supporting this content with our best GIFage. Sometimes, I鈥檒l like the same piece of content a dozen times. It鈥檚 about amplifying and supporting climate so that it will get more eyeballs. A key benefit of doing this is that it pushes the poster to continue sharing their climate news and views. Which is really important, because people often stop sharing climate content when it gets no social love. It鈥檚 hard enough to put challenging thoughts out there, harder still when you get zero response to your serious climate shares. Reward this brave vulnerability with a bit of your time and attention if you can.

4. One for you, one for Zuck

Despite no concrete proof of this, my anecdotal research tells me that you can tweak the algorithm by alternating your energy. If I post a silly meme or adorable malapropism by one of my children that garners much engagement, my content gets shared more widely. And then I can post something substantive about the state of the planet, and tank my algorithm once again. An alternating current of earthly delight and despair.

5. Don鈥檛 take it too srsly

Be honest, and be yourself.  and communicates my existential grief with humor in ways that a serious post about trying to deal with climate emotion never ever could. 

Sharing (intense and important content) is caring. It鈥檒l never get the most love and engagement or win you friends and fans, but honestly who the eff cares. We have a planet to save and every little micro dose of climate information helps. So don鈥檛 despair. And don鈥檛 feel bad if you get it wrong now and then. I invariably learn new things and hear new perspectives when I do. There鈥檚 always another side to a story, and good-faith commenters often help me get out of my privileged and blinkered silo.

Bonus

And if all else fails, amplify the methane out of positive social norms!!!

Do Americans support Biden鈥檚 pledge last night to transition to 100% clean energy by 2050?

Yes – yes they do. 71% support the transition to clean energy. Only 20% oppose it. That鈥檚 more than 3 to 1 support.

Oh, and they also think that will create jobs and grow the economy…

— Anthony Leiserowitz (@ecotone2)

THIS WEEK

How do you share climate content on social media? LMK

LAST WEEK (well, a few weeks ago!)

I wrote about a few . Then I heard a great episode of The Energy Gang where they go , if you鈥檙e interested!

People dancing

Remembering Fayard Nicholas, born on this day in 1914 in Mobile, Alabama. Here he is dancing with his younger brother Harold in the 1943 film 鈥淪tormy Weather.鈥�

— Dust-to-Digital (@dusttodigital)

Hope you are happy and healthy.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Sarah

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P.P.P.P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of Oct. 23, 2020, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media. You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .