Samenvatting

The League of Green Embassies, also referred to as 'the League' or LoGE, is a global network of now approximately 100 U.S. and Foreign Diplomatic Missions that commit to a "more successful, vibrant, and profitable energy and resource portfolio" (The League of Green Embassies: one-pager). Headquartered in U.S. Embassy Helsinki, it devotes itself to bringing together public and private actors with a common agenda for energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation.
Due to the universally increasing energy demand, an initiative such as LoGE is a very essential one. Embassies are a magnificent platform for mobilizing public action and demonstrating tangible ways to make a difference which benefit both economy and environment. In collaboration with the Department of State, Commerce and the Alliance to Save Energy, LoGE initiated an "Energy Efficiency Sweep across Europe" where twelve U.S. Ambassadors residences were made over within a time span of a year. This effort, the biggest public-private partnership ever undertaken by the U.S. Government overseas, represents the immediate and physical action that Embassies and Missions globally can take hereby making their energy work for them.
With Web 2.0 being a household term by now and the arrival of Web 3.0, companies and organizations cannot afford to opt out of social media anymore. As of late 2012, Facebook has over one billion active users and Twitter around 500 million users, 200 million of whom are active. This number is expected to rise as people become more familiar with its use. The LoGE recognizes the value of joining the conversation online. It wants to increase its web presence and the dialogue on green energy practices with its various counterparts. Via social media channels, namely Facebook and Twitter, it wishes to inform, educate and empower individuals to act.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the League can maximize its messaging via its Twitter, @thegreenleague. This paper attempts to be guideline for future employees to gain insight into strategies that help make the most of Twitter with the resources that are available to them.
This research concludes the following: Firstly, more online personality lowers threshold, builds trust and increases likelihood of conversation on @thegreenleague. Secondly, a clearer target group which LoGE regularly communicates with guides LoGE in further crafting attractive messages for its audience. This is likely to increase interaction and encourage retweeting. Thirdly, more focus on the content of tweets and sub-goals along bigger ones, makes its mission more concrete for followers and helps amplify the message. Finally, LoGE should monitor simple metrics at first and then move onto more complex data. Monitoring results is most optimal when done in real-time or shortly after.