Facebook and the Power to the People

In an about turn the bank HSBC has backed down on its decision to charge interest on graduate overdrafts in the UK. HSBC had previously offered this facility for free as part of a sales offer. In a consumer rebellion organised by the National Union of Students, more than 4 000 people joined a Facebook group in protest. The Facebook group was called 'Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-off!!!'.

In its original response to criticism for this unexpected move of charging interest suddenly, the bank had invented some bizarre reason for their move to renege on an offer by stating that charging interest would help students get the message that there is a cost to borrowing. Furthermore this penalty would help students make the transition from student life to working life easier. As arguments go for making more money for themselves, this must rate as one of the more outrageous ones.

The internet is able to provide a ground swell of support practically overnight. Its quick reach works on the, if I tell five people and they tell five people ad infinitum, theory. By the time the bank reacted to the bad publicity, the momentum was picking up and although the bank backed down, the group's membership had passed 5 000 by this afternoon.

This is of course not the first time that the people have flexed their muscle. The news aggregator site Digg had to back down when the site was attacked by outraged users. Many years ago Coca Cola brought out a new coke flavour to replace their standard drink and had to back down. Due to popular demand, the company ended up offering the 'classic' coke again.

As another example of the power of the people one may remember the funeral of Princess Di. The tenth anniversary of her death is being commemorated today. The original plan did not cover the extravagant funeral that was eventually held. A huge public outcry persuaded the Royal Family to increase the pomp and circumstance on the day in September.

People will get passionate about the taste of a fizzy drink, an interest fee that they were told they would not need to pay, a license on a DVD or the death of a public figure. Yet where is the passion for people and injustices. What will it take to get the human race to stand up and create a groundswell of objection to the war in Iraq for instance.

Why are we not gathering members in significant numbers, to stop crimes against humanity? Why does it have to be something like suddenly paying interest, that gets people motivated to object. Do we really feel so little for other people that we can't be bothered? Amnesty International has been going for years, yet their support base is miniscule in relation to the number of world inhabitants.

Greenpeace is another organisation that has the well-being of the planet as its raison d'ê·tre, yet the numbers of supporters are fairly small after years of working for the good of the people and the world. There is also the Red Cross that has done sterling work for mankind. These organisations would never be in a situation where they could find themselves with five thousand new members within a few days.

Joining an existing organisation is as easy as joining a Facebook group. But what about rather starting one yourself. Even that could be painless and without huge costs if any. Joining the group on Facebook, did not cost anything except time. With approximately 34 million active users, Facebook alone has the power to move mountains.

A get together of a few million of the people that regularly surf the internet could actually create so much traffic that it could stall the internet. The power of that could possibly make a difference to how politicians behave and could make them hesitate before attacking other countries or sending their own citizens into war to get killed or maimed. Think about what power you have at your fingertips.

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