On August 6, 2009 I presented “Social Media and Its Effect on Water and Wastwater Industries” at the ISA’s 4th Annual Water and Wastewater Automatic Controls symposium.
Social media is changing the world; this is not hyperbole. If you doubt this, just ask the Iranian government about Twitter or the Boston Globe about eBay and Craigslist. As the tools and technologies that facilitate communicating, sharing, and coordinating become increasingly boring and (by and large) free, they are empowering groups to organize themselves and challenging the value propositions of long standing institutions. And if you think this doesn’t or won’t affect you as a municipality, private operations company, equipment supplier, trade organization, engineering firm, software developer, or government regulator you are wrong.