What People Know -- about Energy (social media angle)

When it comes to energy knowledge, says one study, consumers can be a bit dim.

Sorry, I shamelessly swiped that bad pun from this story.  It continues:

IBM surveyed 10,000 people across 15 countries on consumers’ energy wants and needs. The survey found a sizable gap between what consumers know and what they should in order to benefit from smart grid energy initiatives designed to boost efficiency, cut waste and save money.

Some of the findings, easily available from the story itself, include that nearly a third of those surveyed had never heard of "dollar per kilowatt hour" and more than half didn't know if their utilities had a green energy program.

Here's a less-than-shocking finding -- money motivates people.  But it's not the motivator it used to be.  As the story notes (and this is important for you advertising and public relations folks):

The No. 1 single influence on the consumer was an insert in their energy bill. However, the combination of traditional media, social media  and the opinions of friends and family outweighed the influence of a bill insert.

Yes, this is a rather specialized topic, but it easily falls in my territory of media and knowledge.  I think that italicized graph above is rather important -- energy, or not.  Social media matters now, especially when friends are making suggestions and recommendations because, let's face it, we often trust our family and friends first.