I'll join a facebook group, that'll show em.

Last week when browsing the driftnet full of nonsense that is social networking I saw that one of my 'social network friends' had joined a group entitled "the volcanic ash cloud did more to stop immigration that the last 13 years of government". This is a loose title as I believe it's now been taken down.

Now, is it just me or is that a little racist? Is it right to point that out to this person? The potential ramifications of accusing someone of being out of order in such a public arena could be quite upsetting. Especially with social networking, calling someone out for being potentially racist in front of the nearest and dearest is edgy to say the least.

I was a little put off that someone I knew would think that such a group would be a ok thing to join. But maybe that’s purely a political difference between us and there's nothing wrong with this whatsoever. I find the general 'group' thing on social networks a very mixed bag. My gut feeling is that most of the groups, say 99.99% of them are fluff. It's a way of imprinting yourself, your personality and quirks on your profiles. A hundred little labels that say, "This is part of me".

Some people are certainly habitual 'joiners' and seek to pass on this cool new thing they've joined to all and sundry. My biggest question about the whole thing is the value people attribute to there groups. Do people join them more to show empathy with a cause (more on that later) or because they believe joining a group can make a difference.

To suggest one scenario: A man or woman walks up to you and tells you that have a facebook group that has ten million members. This group is called 'you name here needs to wear more red' Would that group make a difference, can it? Fairly lame example for my argument to be fair but does any group no matter what size have any power to make a difference? Do the people joining the groups believe in the cause of was it a case of just not reading and clicking ok? If there is any power here, what limit is there on what’s achievable.

Is this the ultimate in modern apathy, does one join a protest group to for better about themselves. It's an empty gesture, but could it temper a need to do something that might otherwise grow into actual useful action.

More pointless freewheeling rambling, but it was in my head.