There is no doubt about it, with social networks news travels faster than ever before. Twitter brings a new meaning to the saying “a little birdie told me...” and world news channels have turned to the online community to bring an interactive element to their coverage and reach out for first hand accounts. CNNlive used facebook connect as a discussion platform during the Obama inauguration and BBC world service “World Have Your Say” has an active facebook account. Are individuals taking advantage of these online communities to encourage social change too?

The answer is yes. Amongst my facebook “friends” I have seen many a plea and link to donate to the Haiti earthquake appeals. And, during the Obama presidential campaign social networks were full of it. I was impressed by the outpouring of heated discussion (often from people I know to be normally disinterested in politics) when right-wing extremist Nick Griffin, of the British National Party, controversially appeared on political debate show ‘Question Time’ in October 2009.

One power of the immediately vast online community is to regroup people who share a common view. Members can unite for or against a cause in a way that will spread far faster than an old-fashioned petition. But can these groups really lead to action? One such group, created by your average British couple, became the UK’s most trafficked and historic facebook group when it campaigned for users to unite to prevent the winner of talent show X-factor from reaching number one in the singles charts at Christmas. The talent show giant has had a ‘pop monopoly’ hold on the all-important christmas top-spot for the past four years. Admittedly this ‘success’ does not really demonstrate social change but it does show the power of such a community when people unite.

On a much more serious note social networks have had a huge role in bringing people together to share information. In the wake of the Haiti earthquake, facebook has been one of the key communication tools connecting people worldwide. Within 24 hours the group “Earthquake Haiti” had 209,000 members and it has been used not only to promote the aid effort - with links to online donations - but quite simply as a practical tool for information sharing. This group contains emergency contact numbers, latest updates and information about missing people. This really shows the online community functioning with purpose.

But does this effective and functional use get lost amongst the insignificant and mundane. Does claiming your affiliation to a cause, using a chain status update to ‘raise awareness’ or showing the power of ‘the people’ to go against the expected, amount to the same thing as publicizing the fact that you are a fan of “flipping the pillow over to get the cold side”*? Does it do an important cause justice to be publicized alongside a group entitled “If 20,000 people join, I will legally change my name to biscuit”*?

I still believe social networks really can be used for good, especially for raising awareness and as a call to action. Maybe what is necessary is an online community dedicated entirely to “causing change.”

But would it reach the masses? Those who wouldn’t proactively search for an such an information source...? Sadly, the answer here is probably no. But, maybe if such a thing were to exist we could spread the news on twitter. Or perhaps start a facebook group.

*(genuine page/group on facebook)