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The gort cloud is "a vast, largely invisible and growing (environmentally-aware) 'community' that sieves, measures and exchanges information on environmental (green) products and services." "The community includes NGOs, government agencies, certifying groups, academics, eco-tech specialists, business alliances, green media including green business news, sustainable designers, foundations, other social networks, conferences, trade shows, events, competitions, green blogs, special interest groups, and trendspotters—to name just a few."〔Seireeni, Richard, ''The Gort Cloud'', Chelsea Green, 2008 (Author's Website )〕 The book examines the marketing and brand-building experiences of sustainable businesses in America and discusses the gort cloud concept. It was critically reviewed by TreeHugger in December 2008.〔(Book Review: The Gort Cloud )〕 The gort cloud is analogous to a social network: "A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade." In this case, the shared values of the gort cloud are a concern for the environment and the desire for more sustainable products and services. The gort cloud can thus be thought of as a particular type of social network with inherent social value. According to Robert Putnam, "social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups".〔Putnam, Robert, "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community", Simon and Schuster, 2000〕 In this case, the group goal is the increased production of sustainable and socially responsible goods and services, and the decreased use of unsustainable or socially irresponsible goods and services. The gort cloud is not limited to social networks; it contains green social networks.〔Fehrenbacker, Katie, earth2tech, (10 Green Social Networks You Should Know ) April 11, 2008〕〔Dunn, Collin, TreeHugger, (TreeHugger Picks: Green Social Networks ) February 7, 2007〕 ==Function== Unlike social network services like Facebook or MySpace that "focus on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others",〔Wikipedia entry: Social network services〕 nobody created the gort cloud, and no person or organization controls it. "The gort cloud is simply an interconnected group of people with a common cause: the health and preservation of our planet. But unlike consciously created social networks, no one dreamed up the gort cloud or organized it for a specific purpose. In fact, it's not organized. It just exists as a fluid community."〔Seireeni, Richard, "The Gort Cloud", Chelsea Green, 2008 (Author's Website )〕 An example of the use of the gort cloud can be seen in the marketing of the book ''The Green Collar Economy''〔Jones, Van, "The Green Collar Economy", Harper Collins, 2007〕 written by Van Jones. Jones used outreach to the green community (gort cloud) and to other special interest communities to push his book up and onto ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. "Using a Web-based, viral marketing strategy, Jones and Green For All, an environmental organization he recently founded, worked to get the word out about his book far and wide. The result was a place—number 12 to be exact—on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list in the book's first week."〔Sabloff, Nicholas, "(How Environmental Activist Van Jones' Book "The Green Collar Economy" Reached The NYT Best Sellers List )", The Huffington Post, October 20, 2008〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gort cloud」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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