Dive Brief:

• Utilities are finding social media to be most useful for outage communications, cultivating customer communities and pushing marketing campaigns, The Wall Street Journal reports.
• A survey of 53 North American utilities by E Source Cos., a Colorado-based consulting firm, found that 92% of those participating were on Twitter, up 645 from three years ago, while 86% used Facebook, up 52% over the same period.
• Notable projects have ranged from BC Hydro's use of Steve Nash in YouTube videos about energy waste to Xcel's "Dog Days of Summer" Facebook competition, which offered up a $250 home-upgrade prize to get customers posting pictures of pets.

Dive Insight:

By now, utilities should know that social media platforms are go-to places for communications during storms when power goes out. The results of the E Source Cos. survey being highlighted in this report confirm that Twitter and Facebook are becoming higher priorities, though, as are YouTube, LinkedIn and Flickr. Only 5% of everyone surveyed used Google+, though, so if your utility isn't already on there, don't feel like you're missing out on anything.