It really is power to the people. I'm not even thinking about the current troubles in Egypt, but it is sort of related if you remember that one of the intial knee-jerk reactions was to shut off cell phones and close down Internet access in that troubled country.
Having access to the Internet means an individual can quite effectively communicate with many other people. Tools such as social networking sites can amplify a lone voice into a chorus. Of course this is scary for dictators. It's also scary for those with a vested interest in many areas of the status quo.
These thoughts were brought home today when I jotted out a monthly status update for a Facebook page. A former website I created in the 1990's has been re-established as a Facebook page. It's just a way for folks from my hometown to connect up with others they may have gone to school with. (Click the following image to visit it.)
I was able to add a little promotion for newly published book authored by a acquaintance known to many from the Sunapee, New Hampshire school system. It took me just a moment to add a link. Then, as owner of the page, I sent out a personal note to a targeted audience of 422 Facebook members. I pressed a single button, but know that the message will either be read or ignored by hundreds of people within a short time. That sounds as if it has the potential of making a larger impact than I may have had with the eleven students in my classroom this morning!
