Yeah I guess before social media all one could do is yell at the tv or scoff at the newspaper; then you'd have to get back to actually achieving whatever it was that your were doing with your life. You had your little vent, but for real satisfaction you had to enter the arena and earn satisfaction by doing something. Yelling at the tv felt good for a minute but was futile.
With social media, instead of telling at the tv and having nobody hear you, you yell at the Twitterverse. And if you are skilled at doing this, skilled at soliciting and fostering a bit of outrage, it is no longer the impotent activity it once was; you can actually achieve something (like having someone sacked). All of a sudden those of us in the peanut gallery can matter, more than we ever did before.
Collective action for change had existed before, but it was based on a groundswell of lobbying and logic. Now it happens at the speed of emotion, and (out)rage is a very fast emotion.
