The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient. They are not a natural enemy of the status quo. If you are of the opinion that all the world needs is a little buffing around the edges, this should not trouble you. But if you think that there are still lunch counters out there that need integrating it ought to give you pause.

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Great article by Malcolm Gladwell on the role of social media networks (or lack thereof) in activism today. I completely agree with many of his points. In my own (minor) experience... during the 2008 elections when Prop 8 was on the ballot, the facebook page for "No on Prop 8" collected something like 1.5million "Likes" (or as it was called back then "Fans".) But the one protest rally that was held at various city halls across California on Nov 15 had nowhere close to that level of attendance. I was there at SF City Hall along with maybe ~2000 other people. Its very easy to "Like" on a cause on Facebook or retweet an interesting tweet. Its a whole different level of commitment to actually go *do* something about it.