Wizness, the online network dedicated to sustainability professionals, announced it has partnered with the Social Media Sustainability Index (SMI) to identify social media sustainability best practices and trends. The newly released report, "The SMI and Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index," found that the number of companies embracing social media for their sustainability initiatives more than doubled in 2011 and predicts further increases in 2012. Today, more than 250 brands are using social media as a key tool to communicate sustainability initiatives and bring audiences together for the greater good.

The goal of "The SMI and Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index" is to provide a social media roadmap for communicators throughout the sustainability and CSR community. It ranks the ways in which 100 of the world’s largest companies communicate their CSR initiatives with social media, provides recommendations on managing reputation and highlights the top 10 companies on the list.
 
The Methodology

Researchers scanned leading sustainable company lists including: Corporate Knights Global 100, Newsweek’s Green Rankings, The Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Interbrand’s Best Global Green Brands. The resulting list was then reduced significantly to include only companies that publish a blog, Facebook page or subpage, Twitter account or YouTube channel dedicated to sustainability/CSR. The top 100 companies have social media channels that demonstrate a real commitment to sustainability communications in terms of resource and community building.
 
Key Findings

When compiling the metrics for the report, researchers made the following observations of the 100 companies that made the Index:
• Consumer Goods is the strongest reporting sector on the Index
• Oil & Gas is the weakest reporting sector on the Index
• 53 have dedicated sustainability blogs, 67 have Facebook pages and 70 have twitter feeds
• 36 have Sustainability/CR reports that they share through social media
• 40 North American companies are on the Index
• 54 European companies are on the Index
 
The Leaders

The stand out leaders in this year’s Social Media Sustainability Index all fully embrace their new-found power to publish and provide useful, regular, transparent and creative sustainability content for their social media communities. They are:

1.General Electric
2. IBM
3. Ford
4. Pepisco
5. BBVA
6. Allianz
7. VF Corporation
8. Levis
9. Siemens
10. FedEX and Kimberly-Clark