For better or for worse, we live in an age of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube-all of which allow a group of people or a single person to propagate their message to thousands of people with one stroke of the return key. The wisdom of mass demonstrations and decisions to withhold labour must be questioned in the context of the enormous power that social media have given to people to make their views known to others-to embark on a form of cyber-lobbying. The underlying point is that modern technology, used privately, has obviated the need for the grand, showy public gestures, which may be less effective at influencing public consciousness than the cyber-campaigns.