Real Words

Green Writing is a Tuesday column here on Real Words that emphasizes the importance of being eco-friendly as a web writer. Additional green writing posts including tips on being green can be found here.

One of the big things that web writers do (or should do) is social bookmarking. This allows writers to promote their own posts and support the posts of others they enjoy reading on the web. The web writer who wants to be greener in his or her actions should make an effort to include green social bookmarking as part of his or her daily work.

Green social bookmarking means promoting posts about green issues. This is particularly true if you write and / or read posts about green writing, green blogging and green creativity. But it applies to supporting any green web content that you find useful to being more eco-friendly. By doing this, you encourage others to read about green topics and potentially be greener in their daily lives. And a bonus is that you can promote your own green writing (including articles that only mention green issues) in the process.

Here are some of the best sites for doing green social bookmarking:

• Hugg. This is a social bookmarking site operated by green news site Treehugger; it is specific to green topics. That means that any green writing you do can be submitted here. It also means that you’ll easily be able to identify green topics to read about it since everything here is green. There’s a lot of great info and you’ll be able to network with a lot of people who are also interested in green writing.
• Mixx. Mixx is one of my favorite social networking sites. One of the reasons for that is that it lets you join groups to which people post topics about specific things. There’s a “Green News” group that tends to be active which means that you regularly see new links to green news items and blog posts. And of course you can add your own green voice to the Mixx.
• StumbleUpon. The best way to get to green information on this site is to “stumble” using the keyword “green”. I did it just now to double check and the first three sites that came up for me was a Treehugger post on diesel fuel, a site called GreenUpgrader, and info about an eco-competition on Life Goggles which is a green news site. All great stuff!
• Greensense. This site is a new site, in beta, that appears as though it’s going to have a green social networking section in addition to lots of other green Web 2.0 stuff. No details on the “about” page yet though so this is just one to keep an eye on.

People who are interested in green social networking (in addition to green bookmarking) should check out the recommendations offered by Treehugger.

Question of the Day: What other social bookmarking sites have strong green writing communities?

[Tags] green writing, green, environment, eco-friendly, creativity, writing, freelance, social bookmarking, social networking [/Tags]