Can we be saved?

Theoretically, everything has room for improvement. Theoretically.

With social movements, it all depends on the people involved. Social networks provide many people with all the information regarding a social movement but if they don't plan on acting on it, chances are they probably aren't going to act on it. For example, say Sally sees McCain's tweet saying there's going to be a rally against the passing of Obama's Small Business Jobs Act. (Shame on you if you don't know that that's a real act!) Now that she knows about it... well whether or not she receives a reminder to go to it or some other follow up method of the like, if she hadn't planned on going to it in the first place, it's doubtful that she'd go just because of something like a reminder.

It's all about initial interest. People need to be self-motivated. They need to want to take action, real action. They have to want to follow through. I, myself, am having issues imagining a suitable follow-through method social networks could take other than perhaps sending reminders for events or meetings. If they could devise a way to make follow through easier, I'm sure that social networks would be able to help a cause a bit more. Maybe. But what could they do? And this is by all means not a rhetorical question, I really want to know! A follow through electronically is tough for me to imagine being truly successful. What more can you do online than sign petitions and provide info?


I apologize if I'm starting to sound redundant but it will always come back to the idea that social networks are the tools that people use to reach more people than traditional methods, like fishing lines and hooks. You send them out and hope someone will bite. The bait depends on your cause, the response is whether or not the fish is hungry/likes the bait. At the end of the day, the success of the movement depends on how many fish you've caught. And at the end of the day, if every fish sees the hook and line but chooses not to bite, you're left with one empty bucket on the way home.