Have you ever wondered why you are starting to see “@SamHoustonEC” on just about everything we produce? Have you yet to figure out Facespace and the Tweeter—or are they called Facebook and Twitter? And for that matter, why on earth would anyone tweet at you—that’s what birds do, not electric cooperatives.
For those of us who would rather pick up the phone instead of send a tweet, or mail a friend a birthday card instead of write on their Facebook wall, it is confusing—there’s no doubt about that.
So why is Sam Houston Electric Cooperative jumping on the social media bandwagon—and, for that matter, what is it all about? Open your mind and put on your thinking cap for a moment as we explain how we’re working to serve you more efficiently using social media.
For many internet users, Facebook has become the primary means of sharing information with others. At Sam Houston EC, we’ve got a lot of stuff to share with you—our members.
Facebook allows users to share links, comments, videos and photos through a “wall” that, in theory, resembles a virtual bulletin board. To connect with us on Facebook, you simply need to log in to your account, go to www.facebook.com/SamHoustonEC and “like” our page.
By doing this, you’re simply showing that you are a fan of Sam Houston EC—and we certainly hope you are! You will then have our updates pushed to your news feed, which is a real-time list of updates from people you are Facebook friends with and businesses you have “liked.” Do you really like a news story that we posted? Look towards the bottom of the post and “like” it or leave us a comment—we love hearing from you!
Then there’s Twitter, a microblogging network that shares news, links and images in 140 characters or less. For a newcomer, Twitter, and all of the jargon that comes with it, can get complicated quickly.
If you have a Twitter account, you can visit www.twitter.com/SamHoustonEC or search for @SamHoustonEC and “follow” us. By doing this, you’re subscribing to our updates and they will show up on your news feed. Did we tweet something that you really liked? Click on the “retweet” link at the bottom of the post to forward the tweet to your followers through your account.
What are we posting on Facebook and Twitter? On a day-to-day basis, we are posting news about what’s happening at Sam Houston EC, updates on our projects, photos from our events, and even sharing ways you can save energy and money. When major outages occur, we are posting updates on our efforts to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible. You, or someone you know, can log in to view our page via any device with Internet capability to see how our restoration process is coming along.
The bottom line is that social media has become an effective communications tool. And, it’s not just for teenagers anymore. Social media has become a mass communications channel, allowing businesses and people to reach a broader audience in less time. Best of all, social media is completely free for everyone—allowing us to communicate and interact with you more while keeping your electricity costs low.
