There are many reasons for an organization to develop and manage online communities: marketing, customer support, cost savings, product development, and others. There is another important reason as well:

Online communities are green.

Maybe I'm missing something, but in all of the corporate "green" strategies that are emerging, in all of the discussions about carbon emissions and footprints and offsets, where is the discussion about online communities being green? This came up briefly in the last Online Community Summit (tip of the hat to Deborah Grove), and it strikes me as a huge (and currently missed) opportunity for those promoting online communities.

Any car trip averted due to an online community is "green". Any plane trip averted is "greener" (and anyone who has played with a carbon footprint calculator knows, air travel is the 800 pound gorilla of carbon emissions). Any organization that can remain mostly virtual is "greenest".

I believe that online community professionals should hook onto the "green" juggernaut, especially in three ways:

• Anyone involved with corporate green strategy should include an online community strategy;
• Anyone developing online community metrics should include carbon savings as an indicator;
• Anyone marketing online communities should speak to their "green" qualities.

We've always tried to cast our arguments for online communities in black and white. It's time to use a bit more green.