Social networking has taken on a radical new edge after
a Facebook campaign forced HSBC bank to reverse plans to cancel interest-free overdrafts to new graduates.
A raft of new protest zones have been rolled out on the site as
grassroots social and political groups discover that they have a potent new weapon at their disposal.
No longer do eco-warriors have to rely solely on sit-ins and protests. Anti-poverty campaigners now have a platform that allows them to constantly update their message. And local activists can tackle issues such as supermarket expansion plans without leaving their living rooms. Today's revolts are mounted from the mousepad.
Recent groups established on Facebook have shown that the networking site is losing its vacuous image, with users keen to flex their political muscle.HSBC this week announced it was "not too big to listen to the needs of customers", after thousands of Facebookers signed up daily to the site "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off". Students across the country had been calling for a boycott of the bank.
The U-turn comes as a warning sign to other institutions, governments, organisations and individuals. For now virtually no issue goes unnoticed on social networking sites.Appeals to save local services coexist with campaigns for human rights and appeals for the return of Madeleine McCann.
Ben Allen, 26, who runs a Facebook group which campaigned to save a section of Camden Market from being replaced with a purpose-built complex containing chain stores, said that
he thought the web was empowering people who would not ordinarily protest.
"It makes it easier for those who were never going to take to the streets, and empowers people to vote with their clicks rather than their feet," he explained.MORE
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2917344.ece
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