I’m all for social tools that enable folks to connect. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if those networks could empower us to take action and create changes for the better? Yes this is sounding a touch hippie dippie, but there are networks that whose sole purpose is to enable like-minded individuals to affect change.

Change.org is one such platform – their vision is to:

…transform social activism by serving as the central platform that connects likeminded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about.

To augment the power of the grassroots networks that develop through Change.org, we help connect these networks to the many nonprofit organizations that are already working to advance worthy causes around the world – over 1 million in total. We facilitate dialogue and collaboration by creating a social network around each nonprofit, thereby allowing people to participate in ways never before possible – by posting ideas and suggestions, engaging in direct dialogue, and organizing communities of donors, volunteer events, and rallies.

By leveraging the power of the web, social movements that originate on the internet not only can be viral and cultish, but actually gain traction and produce real results.

Graphing social patterns is all well and good. But taking those networks back into the real world is what will separate the walkers from the talkers.