As a PR/marketing professional, I have talked to numerous AEC businesses about adopting these tools if only to help them ‘listen’ and keep abreast of the concerns, interests and activities of some of their key publics. For example, I have talked to contractor-developers about how local communities have used blogs and Twitter to articulate opposition to new schemes or to highlight inconsiderate site practices. Awareness and familiarity with social media tools and techniques is therefore not just about promotion, but also about managing reputation in the face of potential criticism.

Working with blogs and twitter can also be a powerful way to boost traffic to existing corporate websites, and – during a recession in which sales leads are like gold dust – more traffic can often translate into more enquiries.

You may also be interested in an online community Be2camp – http://www.be2camp.com – that is promoting the adoption of Web 2.0 by AEC organisations (BE = built environment), and has held several ‘unconferences’ bringing together practitioners and the wait-and-see brigade. The debates you describe are very familiar from the conversations that have taken place at Be2camp over the past year.