Governance and Transparency

Using Social Media to Engage Our Stakeholders

Staying connected with our stakeholders requires us to continually explore new methods of communication. In 2009, Duke Energy expanded its use of social media to engage with customers, employees, community members – and even our critics.

We’ve earned praise for publishing Twitter updates from the @DukeEnergyStorm channel whenever severe storms affect our service territories. We provide customers who subscribe to these electronic bulletins real-time information, advice and power restoration estimates – directly to their cell phones or computers.

With this success, we launched two additional Twitter feeds in 2009: @DukeEnergyNews, which distributes news about our business, and @EnergyInBalance, which provides advice on saving energy and reducing costs. In 2010, we also plan to expand our presence on YouTube and Flickr.

To spark thoughtful dialogue on our nation’s energy policies, we launched sheddingalight.org, an education and advocacy Web site. Comments and videos from interested citizens join essays from some of today’s foremost authorities on energy, environmental and economic issues. Because there is no single answer to our country’s energy challenges, we welcome diverse opinions in the discussion.

Social media are increasingly used within the company to connect employees across functions and locations. In 2009, several hundred employees began using secure, Web-based forums to share information and ideas on topics relevant to our company. We have established guidelines to help our employees use social media responsibly and will continue to look for ways to make practical use of these emerging communication technologies.