At the moment I’m pondering a situation happening in my home province.  I don’t want to get into too much detail about it at the moment because there are few specifics.  It boils down to our provincial government (think state government if you live in the US, Australia, or some other similar government structure) planning to announce a decision that will potentially be unpopular with many residents of our province.  This decision will affect every single resident of this province. This is the type of government decision that could bring about a big change in the status quo and changing the playing field in our province for generations.

This is a big deal.

Or not.

It could be much ado about nothing.  We New Brunswickers may never notice any difference.  Heck, we could even benefit hugely if things are done correctly. But few people have any confidence of that happening when government is involved.  It’s not a knock; it’s just a fact.

The thing is, I’ve never had a platform or soapbox like this prior to blogging where I could broadcast my thoughts to the world, share facts, etc.  It’s kind of cool but it’s also scary and sobering.  I don’t pretend to have the kind of reach that many of my blogging peers have.  At the same, my megaphone is a little bit louder than most people’s.  It’s an opportunity.  But is it also a responsibility, too?  As a blogger and social media user, do I have a responsibility to force debate, spread truthful information, etc.? I’m still mindful of the blogosphere post that I wrote a couple of days ago.  I can’t pretend to represent the general public of my country, my province, or even my town.

And here’s the thing:  I’m contemplating the possibility of using social media to prevent change.  They really don’t have that one anywhere in the social media handbook, do they?  Most things I seem to see around the Web sites I frequent and the books I read seem to be about using these tools to make new things happen.  Preventing change is kind of a retro idea, don’t you think? If I do decide to speak publicly about this pending government change, I won’t be writing about it here – I’ll create a new place for that. But I’m curious to know what you think.

Do those of us in social media have a responsibility to stand up for doing the right thing, even if it means preventing change?  Should we keep personal opinion out of it?  Should we try to be like journalists?  What do you think?

Update: I did create a new blog for this topic.  You can find it here.

Image by scazon

Other posts that you might enjoy reading:

• Maybe Every Thought Aggregates
• A simple theory on why social media is losing its mojo
• My social media processes
• The real time Web versus a reasonable time Web
• Are your social media snow tires on yet?