Message from ACC President

With very effective anti-coal marketing finding its way into so many social media outlets, it is essential that we take part.

When compared with the tech savvy nature of many who oppose the use of coal, our industry is not well known as an effective user of social media. However, nearly all the available research indicates that social media has become a primary communications tool for our society.

Google data indicates that over 60 percent of those using social media fall between the ages of 25 and 54, and the average social network user is 37 years old. Other research indicates that over 110 million tweets are sent out each day and over 500 million active users spend more that 700 billion minutes per month Facebooking.

With so many of our customers using social media, it is important for our industry to take part in this technology revolution. With very effective anti-coal marketing finding its way into so many social media outlets, it is essential that we take part.

Through the TLC project, we are helping to ensure our industry welcomes our new hires and encourages our up and coming executive talent. By encouraging connections and networking, we are developing mentoring relationships that will meld new ideas and concepts with the centuries of experience possessed by our senior executives. Combining those resources with our 2011 social media project recognizes the need to provide our industry with tools and information that make the most of new communications technologies. With this program we can help to turn the tide of misunderstanding and misinformation on coal.

We don’t want to oversell anything here. We recognize that producing a social media primer will not suddenly solve all of our communications challenges. Forming a committee is not a silver bullet that will bring in the thousands of new hires this industry will need over the next several years. The TLC group will not be the solution to all of our challenges.

The TLC group does, however, provide an increasing number of executives with essential ties to others in the industry. This group provides a basis for sharing of new ideas across industry sectors, and in doing so, helps encourage new methods of addressing regulatory challenges. The 2011 project, in particular, addresses the need for education on social media. It also addresses the need for publishing balanced and factual information about coal when traditional media and information resources may not suitable or adequate for the task.

We believe that the TLC group meets several essential needs for this industry and, in providing this resource, we believe we have taken another necessary step in our attempts to serve you, our members.

We encourage all ACC members to take part in the Tomorrow’s Leadership Council. For more information on this committee, please contact ACC Communications Director, Jason Hayes, or go to the Committees page on the ACC website (www.americancoalcouncil.org).